Arvind Kejriwal may announce AAP’s plan to contest Goa assembly elections tomorrow

NEW DELHI: Arvind Kejriwal is likely to announce the Aam Aadmi Party’s plan to contest Goa’s next assembly elections at his maiden rally in Panjim’s Campala Grounds on Sunday. Kejriwal has been working to prepare the party’s structure in the past six months in the diminutive western coastal state.

"We are very much interested in contesting (the 2017 assembly election). Arvind might announce it during the rally," a senior party leader told ET. Several AAP leaders from Delhi have been camping in Goa for days to prepare for the rally, which 20,000 are expected to attend.

Speaking with ET over phone from Goa, the AAP leader expressed optimism about its electoral chances by pointing to Congress leader Digvijaya Singh’s recent remarks at a press conference. While castigating AAP, Singh reportedly spoke about the possibility of AAP benefitting from "public frustration" with the BJP and the Congress. "This means we have arrived and both established parties are worried," the AAP leader said.

Another AAP insider said that his party’s campaign momentum and public outreach will increase after the rally. "We will launch the Goa Dialogue on the lines done in Punjab and Delhi. Issues of the tourism sector, mining, thousands of youth leaving the state in search of a better life will all figure in our dialogues and campaigns," he said.

Goa has been dominated by the BJP and the Congress for decades, but AAP sees a space for the party on account of a ‘weak’ Congress.