Setback For Opposition As AAP Says Will Contest Maharashtra Polls Alone

Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party has said it would contest alone in Maharashtra, refusing to be part of the opposition alliance Maha Vikas Aghadi in the coming assembly election, even though it is part of the INDIA bloc on a national level. The MVA, for which this is a blow, is yet to respond to the announcement, which came ahead of the opposition bloc meeting.

AAP -- which has been ruling Delhi for a decade and does well in urban areas with its Delhi model of education and health -- has said it would field candidates on all 36 seats in Mumbai.

"Mumbai has no people's representatives in any of the 27 municipal corporations in Maharashtra, including the BMC (civic body Brihanmumbai Corporation)," said AAP's Mumbai Working President Ruben Mascarenhas.

"Mumbai's infrastructure is crumbling. Housing remains an unresolved issue. Slums are steadily becoming uninhabitable. Builder and contractor mafia have taken over the city," he added.

Tagging the Eknath Shinde government an "organised loot of the state treasury", AAP's Mumbai chief Preeti Sharma Menon said: "Unemployment and inflation have broken the back of the common man. Agrarian crisis and consequent farmer suicides are continuing. Maharashtra, once India's most industrialised state, is no longer a leader in terms of GDP. Taxpayers' money is being used as bank guarantees for private cooperative societies".

AAP had also contested the state election alone in 2019 but failed to open account. But since then, it has not only won Punjab but also won seats in Goa and Gujarat, winning for itself a place at the high table of national parties.  It is now eager to expand, especially in the key metros of the country.