FILE photo: Aam Aadmi Party leader Kumar Vishwas
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Kumar Vishwas is expected to visit Rahul Gandhi's parliamentary constituency of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh amid speculation that he will take on the Congress number 2 in the national election due by May.
AAP leaders today said Mr Vishwas would visit Amethi in the next few days, for a 'Jhadu Sandesh Yatra' being organized by the party. The 'jhadu' or 'broom' is the symbol of
Arvind Kejriwal's one-year-old party.
Sources said Mr Vishwas, whose name has been doing the rounds as AAP's probable candidate to take on Mr Gandhi in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, would try and take a sense of the "political situation in the constituency".
Political observers feel this will also mark the beginning of AAP's foray in Uttar Pradesh. After its stunning debut in the Delhi state assembly polls, AAP has declared its national ambitions and has set eyes on certain VIP constituencies, which it says it will contest.
Mr Vishwas' candidature to contest against Mr Gandhi was announced some time back by Manish Sisodia, a close aide of Mr Kejriwal.
A senior AAP functionary told IANS that other than taking part in the 'Jhadu Sandesh Yatra' aimed at mobilizing the masses in favour of the party, Mr Vishwas will also hold meetings with party workers at the Saintha road party office in Amethi.
Meanwhile, UP's Public Works Department Minister Shivpal Singh Yadav has ruled out any impact of the AAP in Uttar Pradesh and said at a function on Tuesday that the rookie party would soon be exposed.