JAIPUR: Elections in Rajasthan may still be a year away, but the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has announced its entry into the fray with a “local face” as its chief ministerial candidate.The AAP has been engaged in election preparations for Rajasthan ever since forming its government in Punjab. The Arvind Kejriwal-led party asserts that it will flaunt the party’s development works in Delhi and Punjab. AAP currently has no presence in the Rajasthan Assembly.
The Opposition BJP and the ruling Congress are likely to go into the election battle without projecting their chief ministerial candidates. To avoid internal tussle, the BJP has announced that it will contest the elections under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
AAP has said it will field its candidates in all the 200 Assembly seats. Sandeep Pathak, Rajya Sabha MP and a strategist for the party in Punjab elections, shared the party’s strategy with the media in Jaipur.
Pathak said AAP’s chief minister’s face for Rajasthan would be from the state itself. “This time in Rajasthan, we will contest 200 assembly seats with full force. Only those workers who are present will be given the tickets. We already have Arvind Kejriwal at the national level. A local face will be brought in Rajasthan soon,” Pathak said.
Pathak said on the lines of Punjab, the party would conduct a survey in Rajasthan. “Leaders who will have good chances of winning and have a good image will be made candidates. The popular mood in Rajasthan will be known through the survey, which will also reveal what people want,” he said. “There is no real change in the state when a Congress or BJP government comes to power. Due to their hidden alliance, both the parties ignore the issues affecting the ordinary people. This kho-kho game is going on between the two parties,” Pathak remarked. The party has also launched its membership drive through missed calls. To build the organization from village upwards, it has launched a ‘Gram Sampark Abhiyan’ and intensified interactions with villagers.