NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will be focusing on the Punjab assembly elections before
it decides on candidates for the civic body polls in the national capital. Party functionaries overseeing the MCD poll campaign said the leadership would first select candidates for Punjab assembly elections and only after that the names of MCD candidates would be decided. This could happen around December.The party, however, will commence its first phase of MCD election campaign from September 1.
Gopal Rai, AAP Delhi convenor and cabinet minister, had earlier said the MCD campaign will see participation of all its Delhi MLAs for a month. While both the elections are likely to be held around the same time next year, the Punjab’s election is a top priority for the party as it faces a mighty Congress led by Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh. AAP is the principal opposition in Punjab and has a sizeable cadre presence on ground.
In Punjab, AAP has been trying to emerge as the face of alternative politics, trying to woo voters who are fatigued by the successive Congress and Shiromani Akalidal regimes. The infighting among Punjab Congress and the public anger against the SAD and BJP over the farm laws have weakened them in the state.
The lawmakers of AAP will hold block-level meetings in small groups to garner votes for party. “Our party has a good number of people who are keenly interested in fighting polls. We have a lot of probable’s,” said Rai.Meanwhile, AAP will be directly battling BJP in the polls to capture power in the MCDs, which are being ruled by the saffron party. AAP has been constantly hitting out at BJP for the garbage mess and the empty coffers of the urban civic bodies in Delhi.