After Delhi, now Aam Aadmi Party sets sights on Punjab

CHANDIGARH: After its sweeping win in the Delhi assembly elections, the Aam Aadmi Party has set its eyes on grabbing power in Punjab where it sprang a surprise last year by winning four Lok Sabha seats, party leaders from the state say.

“Punjab is waiting to embrace us with open arms,” said Bhagwant Mann, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Member of Parliament from Sangrur.

“Our victory in Delhi had emboldened the hopes of people of Punjab who have been robbed of their rights by both the BJP-Akali Dal combine and Congress,” he told ET

The comedian-turned-politician, who claims to have held 121 jan sabhas, 35 road shows, 14 padyatras and 57 debates, will spearhead AAP campaign in Punjab.

Political observers say the political situation in Punjab is favourable for AAP, partly because the ruling BJP-Shiromani Akali Dal alliance is marred by increasing differences between the partners while opposition Congress is riven by severe infighting between factions led by former chief minister Amarinder Singh and Congress Committee chief Pratap Singh Bajwa. Having conquered Delhi in historic fashion, AAP will soon relaunch its Mission Vistaar, its initiative to grow the party across the country, which was discontinued temporarily to prepare for Delhi elections.

It will be done most vigorously in Punjab. From restructuring of the party to enrolling more members across all segments of population, AAP will prepare a roadmap to contest all the 117 constituencies in the next assembly elections due in 2017.

Mission ‘Punjab bolda hai’ (‘Punjab speaks’) will be launched with full vigour, involving the students wing, youth wing and women wing of the party, AAP leaders said.

Following the Delhi model, the party will indulge in ‘issue-based’ politics rather than relying on ‘cadre strength’ as done by most other political parties.

In its jan sabhas, baithaks and rallies, AAP plans to discuss all important issues faced by the people of Punjab, including increasing drug usage among youth in the state and significant rise in the number of cancer patients

Mann said that besides Punjab, the party will also focus on Bihar, which seems headed for an early election, and Uttar Pradesh, which goes to polls in 2017.