The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will be contesting elections in six states that are going to polls in the next two years. These are Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat.
The announcement was made by party Chief Arvind Kejriwal at the ninth National Council Meeting of AAP on Thursday, 28 January.
“It has been decided that AAP will contest upcoming Assembly polls in Punjab, UP, Uttarakhand, Goa, Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat. The party will take Kejriwal's development model among the people in these states,” AAP leader Manish Sisodia said on Thursday, addressing the media after the party's national council meeting.
After its incredible victory in the Delhi Assembly elections, the party has been looking to expand into other territories and be an alternate to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which rules in four out of the six states.
While AAP MLA Atishi Marlena is heading the party’s political ambitions in Gujarat, MLA Somnath Bharti has been leading inspections into the state of school and public health in Uttar Pradesh.
At the party meeting, accusing the BJP of planting its agents to derail the farmers’ tractor rally protest on Tuesday, 26 January, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that the real culprits should be punished.
“What happened on 26 January was unfortunate. The real culprits should be punished not those who the police have lodged fake cases against,” Kejriwal said.
“But the farmers' issues have not been resolved yet, so the farmers’ movement is not over. While India’s farmers are unhappy, the country cannot progress. We all have to support the farmers. Whoever attends these protest, I appeal them to do it in a non-violent democratic way,” he added.
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