NEW DELHI: The national capital seems to be dominated by the ‘Yatra’ politics, with all the major parties participating in the strategy.
At the forefront is the ruling AAP, which has launched the second phase of its padyatra featuring top leaders such as former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his former deputy.
Meanwhile, the Congress has initiated the ‘Delhi Nyaya Yatra’ with Himachal CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and PCC president Devender Yadav taking the lead. The principal opposition party in Delhi assembly, BJP, has also planned a major outreach programme to engage with the public.
Though the city had witnessed massive campaigns by the three political parties in previous assembly polls, this time the ‘yatra’ politics is dominant. After getting bail from the Supreme Court, AAP leader and former Delhi CM Manish Sisodia started his padayatra, which Kejriwal followed upon securing the bail. In the first week of November, the AAP national convener began his second round of padyatra by taking to the streets on a series of marches across all constituencies of Delhi.
The padyatras are being organised to enable the people engage directly with the AAP supremo, so he can take note of their concerns. “These padyatras will continue throughout November and December. The objective is to reach every person and inform them about how the BJP is obstructing Delhi’s progress through conspiracies, and to highlight Kejriwal’s developmental works over the past ten years,” said AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, while announcing the second phase.
In a similar outreach programme, Delhi Congress also started ‘Delhi Nyay Yatra’ from the second week of November. Senior party leaders flagged the Delhi Nyay Yatra from Rajghat. The Yatra, scheduled to be held in four phases, will pass through all the 70 Assembly constituencies and interact with the public and list out the welfare programmes carried out by the previous Congress government in the national capital. The rally will also focus on the “misrule” and “corruption” of the AAP-led Delhi government for the past 10 years.
“During its 15-year rule, the Congress had turned Delhi into a world-class city, but the Kejriwal government committed gross injustice to women, youth, students, elderly, farmers, traders and every section of residents, as Kejriwal’s focus as chief minister was to take corruption to unprecedented high levels at the expense of the people, and the liquor scam finally landed him, his deputy Manish Sisodia, Minister Satyender Jain and MP Sanjay Singh in jail, besides nearly 30 AAP MLAs facing various criminal cases,” Yadav underscored on day one.
Meanwhile, the BJP also announced to embark on a “Parivartan Yatra” from December in all 70 assembly constituencies where senior party leaders will try to connect with the people. The BJP leaders said that the yatras, aimed at sending across the message to replace the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ruling in Delhi since 2015, was earlier scheduled for mid-November.