Following its remarkable success in the recent Punjab Assembly elections, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) seeks to expand its base in Telangana by promoting the “model of Kejriwal’s rule”, a senior party leader said. AAP’s Delhi MLA Somnath Bharti has visited the state for two days this week, while the party’s election in-charge for the southern state has visited Warangal and Hyderabad.
The party, led by Arvind Kejriwal, will start a ‘march’ in Telangana on April 14, on Babasaheb Ambedkar’s birth anniversary, “going door to door”, Bharati told PTI by phone from Delhi.
The AAP aims to introduce “Kejriwal’s rule model” in Telangana, he added. “After the huge ‘Inquilab’ (revolution) in Punjab, I have received calls from many in all parties. We are careful not to take on anyone who is corrupt or has a bad background, “said Bharati. The AAP will never engage in religion or caste-based politics, but will spread the message of “Kejriwal’s model of governance”.
Noting that the political space in Telangana is competitive between the ruling TRS and the opposition BJP and Congress and that there is no proper organization of his party in the state, Bharati said that the AAP’s competition is not with anyone but with an idea.
The concept under which every political party, whether in Telangana or any other part of the country, is religion or caste or corruption-based politics, where the AAP stands for “work-based politics”, he claimed. “People want jobs and solutions to their problems,” he said.
Kejriwal described his party’s ideology as “honesty, patriotism and humanity” and with it, the party gave amazing rule in the national capital, he said.
Regarding the recent efforts of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao to unite the opposition parties against the BJP, he said that opposition to the saffron party alone would not work and an alternative agenda was needed for the people.
He also criticized the ruling TRS for failing to fill government jobs.
Bharati claimed that her two-day visit to Telangana had received a “surprising” response. He further stressed that several leaders were keen to join AAP in Telangana. “We’ll open the card a little later,” he said. He said that during his stay in Hyderabad, he had meetings with leaders of various parties and organizations.
The AAP on February 1 dissolved all existing committees of its Telangana unit and formed an inquiry committee to bring in a new generation of “leaders” to expand its base in the southern states.
The party’s move to restructure its unit in the state to boost its base with a new plan as part of preparations for the next assembly elections in Telangana to be held in December 2023 has been seen in political circles.
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