AAP eyes Rajasthan state elections after recent students poll wins; set to join Gujarat poll fray too

Riding high after party’s beyond expected performance in the recently concluded Rajasthan students’ union poll and Bawana (Delhi) bypoll, Arvind Kejriwal led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is all set to contest for the state assembly elections in Rajasthan as well as in Gujarat – both are Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) bastions.  While AAP announced its Gujarat ambition last month, Kumar Vishwas, National Executive, AAP, informed about the party’s Rajasthan plan on Monday while presiding over a meeting of 500 AAP poll observers who would be part of the Rajasthan campaign. “To begin with, the observers who were present in the meeting have been assigned 100 assembly seats (in Rajasthan) that they have to work on. In next six months, we would also constitute committees that would select the candidates,” said Vishwas.

Vishwas, who reportedly got the charge of the state party in Rajasthan in exchange for not quitting AAP, is bullish about the party’s chances in the state. He said, “We (AAP Rajasthan) were being written off as a dumping yard. But our student’s wing, contesting for the first time in Rajasthan, won president’s posts in 12 colleges.” In an attempt to strengthen party’s roots in the state, Kumar Vishwas will visit Jaipur on Wednesday (October 4) and hold meetings with the party office-bearers in this regard. As per a report by HT, the party will also launch an anti-liquor agitation in the state with a special focus on the villages.

Meanwhile, the party is also striving to pocket a substantial number of seats in Gujarat assembly elections. The party won’t fight on all seats in Gujarat but will contest for some select seats. AAP’s Gujarat election-in-charge and Delhi cabinet minister Gopal Rai said, “We have framed three criteria and will contest on seats which meet our criteria.” It must be noted that Gujarat has been an important part of the party’s plan to expand its national footprint. In this regard, Rai also submitted a constituency-wise report, by seeking inputs from party functionaries from the state, to AAP’s national convener Arvind Kejriwal, in June this year.