Senior AAP leader Yogendra Yadav
After its spectacular debut in Delhi,
Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is all set to launch its campaign for the national elections, due by May. From January 10 to 26, the year-old party will conduct a national membership drive called 'Main Bhi Aam Aadmi'. It has decided to waive its Rs 10 enrollment fee for the drive.
After the party's two-day national executive meet at Delhi's Constitutional Club, senior leader Yogendra Yadav declared that his party will contest all 90 assembly seats in Haryana, where polls are due later this year. Mr Yadav, according to sources, is likely to be AAP's chief ministerial candidate in the state.
"We do not have the organizational capacity to take up a challenge like this. There is a lot of excitement but I don't know if it will translate into votes. But as a political party, we are not only into business of getting votes, but also creating hope," Mr Yadav says.
Along with Delhi and Haryana, AAP is reportedly looking at Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Gujarat to build a strong support system for the national elections.
Sources say amongst the big faces the party plans to field are Mayank Gandhi from Maharashtra and Sanjay Singh from Uttar Pradesh. However, party chief Arvind Kejriwal has said he will remain committed to Delhi and will not contest the polls. "I will campaign for the party nationally, not contest," he said yesterday.
AAP leader Kumar Vishwas has already declared that he will contest the Lok Sabha elections against Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi from his constituency in Amethi in Uttar Pradesh. Mr Vishwas earlier this week said he doesn't just want to take on Mr Gandhi in Amethi, but would also like the BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi to join the line-up.
AAP announced today that its first list of candidates for the national elections will be out by January 20 while the full list will be released by February 15.
"We will fight the elections from most seats in most states," AAP leader Prashant Bhushan said on Saturday. He later told NDTV that the party expects to win at least 50 Lok Sabha seats in the elections.
Of late, giving the AAP a boost are not so aam aadmis. Top banker Meera Sanyal, Captain Gopinath who created Air Deccan, Infosys board member V Balakrishnan and singer Remo Fernandez have joined the party.