AAP to go it alone in UP for 2014 Lok Sabha polls

LUCKNOW: After unprecedented success in the Delhi assembly elections, Aam Aadmi Party ( AAP) has now set its eyes on UP. The party on Saturday announced that it will contest 2014 Lok Sabha elections from UP on its own and dared BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi to fight elections against each other.

Party also announced that its founder member Kumar Vishwas would contest against Rahul in Amethi and promised to field a strong candidate against Congress president Sonia Gandhi in Rae Bareli.

AAP's state unit held its first meeting in Lucknow on Saturday to discuss the roadmap for the UP Lok Sabha elections. Similar meetings will be held in other zones of the state in the next one month.

Later, addressing reporters, AAP national core committee member Sanjay Singh said, "Our priority is not to contest elections but to change the system. We will visit each district and select potential candidates having clean record and no criminal or corruption cases against him or her. Candidates will be fielded after a screening test. We will not put up candidates in constituencies where we don't find anyone meeting our eligibility criterion."

He also said that AAP will not ally with any party in the state.

On dominance of casteism and communalism in UP politics, Singh admitted that "it would be a big challenge, but said AAP's candidates will be selected by the local people and not on the basis of caste and religion". He said that party's motto would be "Jati todo, Deshi jodo" (shun caste/religion politics, unite country) and vote for good people. "The strategy will be in lines adopted in Delhi. The focal issues would be corruption, electricity, water, health, education, poverty and unemployment. All we want is to defeat the tainted leaders who fool people by making false promises,'' said Singh.

"Delhi elections have shown that people will are fed up with the present political system and culture and voted for a credible option. People want honest politicians, not the BJP or the Congress," he said.

When asked about Narendra Modi, Singh cited the example of Arvind Kejariwal who defeated Congress's Shiela Dixit, the three-time chief minister of Delhi.

"If Modi is really serious about defeating Congress, he must contest against Rahul Gandhi. In fact, both are being projected as prime ministerial candidates, hence it would be proper that they contest against each other and abide by people's verdict," he said. Modi has also option of contesting against Sonia Gandhi, he added.

Lashing out at the UP government, Singh said, "UP is ruled by Mulayam Singh Yadav Pvt Ltd and not the Samajwadi Party. Party's ideologue Dr Ram Manohar Lohia, used to saw that his party was his family but for MSY, his family is his party."