CHANDIGARH/NEW DELHI: The AAP will contest all 90 Assembly seats in Haryana and play solo in a state where its former Lok Sabha ally in Delhi, Congress, is the main opposition. The AAP decision will make Haryana elections a multi-cornered contest.
The AAP has coined a slogan: ‘Badlenge Haryana ka haal, ab layenge Kejriwal’ (Will change Haryana by bringing in Kejriwal).”
The party plans a town hall on July 20 when it will launch Arvind Kejriwal’s guarantees for Haryana.
The Election Commission last year raised AAP’s status to that of a national party.
The AAP has formed governments in Delhi and Punjab; has five MLAs in Gujarat and two in Goa. It also has a mayor in Chandigarh. Leveraging that and realising the location of Haryana—a half of the state is linked to Punjab and another half to Delhi—the party believes it has fair chances in the BJP-ruled state.
The assertion was conveyed by Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann on Thursday in Chandigarh. “The people of Haryana have given a chance to all parties. But everyone looted Haryana, so the people of Haryana now want change,” he said.
Mann was accompanied by party’s MP Sanjay Singh and party general secretary Sandeep Pathak. “We saw how farmers of Haryana were lathi-charged. Unemployment is the biggest problem in the state,” said Singh.