BHOPAL: Eyeing to create a place for itself in the assembly poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) continues to focus on the state’s Vindhya region – which was ruling BJP’s bright spot in rather dismal 2018 polls.
The party which is in power in Delhi and Punjab, held its second poll rally in the Vindhya region within a month. The two CMs, Delhi CM and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann addressed an impressive rally in Rewa district, 28 days after a similar rally in the adjoining Satna district of the same region, which is bordered by UP.
While Congress’s state president Kamal Nath has spelt 11 poll guarantees, the AAP head Arvind Kejriwal announced 10 poll guarantees to people of MP, on the lines of Delhi and Punjab.
The ten poll guarantees include uninterrupted free electricity and waiving off of all outstanding electricity bills up to October 31, free government school education for all and upgrading government schools to better than private schools, controlling fee structure of private schools, free medical treatment at government hospitals and Mohalla Clinics across MP, uprooting corruption, government jobs to all (turning ad hoc employees/teachers into permanent employees) and Rs 3000 monthly unemployment allowance to jobless till they get jobs. The ten poll guarantees also include a free pilgrimage to the elderly in fully AC trains, Rs 1 crore honorarium to police, paramilitary and defence personnel martyred in the course of duty and maximum compensation to farmers for damaged crops and due prices for their crops.
“Don’t fall in the trap of any other political party’s guarantee, they all are fake. The only true guarantees come from us, which has been already proved in Delhi and Punjab,” Kejriwal said.
While narrating Shah Rukh Khan’s dialogue from the recent Bollywood movie ‘Jawan,’ Kejriwal asked the people “not to any longer vote for parties who seek votes in name of caste and religion, but to uproot BJP and Congress from MP by voting for AAP’s honest politics, just like Delhi and Punjab.”
Attacking the Narendra Modi government for exploring the possibility of One Nation One Election (all polls at one time) in the country, the Delhi CM said, “My take is that there should be elections every month to keep the politicians under control of people. Instead of One Nation One Election, there should be One Nation One Education and One Nation One Ilaaj to ensure that irrespective of income, everyone gets the same education and medical treatment in the country.”
Addressing the rally, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann asked people of MP to call people in Punjab to know the wonders done for the people in the northern state by the AAP government in 18 months. “We’ve just completed 18 months in power in Punjab, I appeal to all of you to compare the 18 months of AAP governance in Punjab with 18 years of BJP’s rule in MP.”
This was AAP’s third rally in the poll-bound central Indian state in three months after the July rally in Gwalior and the August 21 rally in Satna.
Importantly, AAP is particularly zeroing in upon the Gwalior-Chambal, Bundelkhand and Vindhya regions (all bordering UP) in its efforts to make an entry into the MP Vidhan Sabha. Six of the ten candidates named in the 10-strong first list of the broom symbol party are for seats of the three regions bordering UP and Rajasthan (including two candidates for Vindhya region seats).
Importantly, AAP had contested 208 out of the 230 seats in MP in the 2018 polls but polled just around one per cent votes. In the 2022 local body polls in MP, the AAP, polled 6.3 per cent votes, winning the mayor’s post in Singrauli in the Vindhya region. While 52 of its candidates were elected municipal councillors, 10 district panchayat members and 47 village sarpanch across the state.