AAP to contest all seats in MP assembly elections

The Aam Aadmi Party will contest all 230 seats in Madhya Pradesh assembly polls, due later this year, a party office-bearer said on Saturday indicating the Arvind Kejriwal-led party will pitch the Delhi model of governance to target the Bharatiya Janata Party and opposition Congress and accused them of playing 'destructive politics'.

AAP organisational general secretary Sandeep Pathak cited the performance of the party in recent local bodies polls in MP and said it will form the next government.

"We will field candidates in all the Assembly constituencies and with all our might fight elections," Pathak told reporters in Bhopal.

The 2018 assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh led to a hung assembly, with the Congress emerging as the largest party with 114 seats in the 230-member House, but failing to win a majority. The BJP had won 109 seats.

The Congress later formed a coalition government under Kamal Nath.

However, the dispensation collapsed in March 2020 after several MLAs of Congress defected to BJP, paving the way for the saffron party to return to power.

Asked whether the time was too short for the AAP to brace up and spread its footprint in MP given the Kejriwal-led party currently doesn't have an executive committee after it was dissolved recently, he said the committee will be formed soon.

"As the number of our leaders and workers has grown manifold in MP, we dissolved our state executive committee to expand it and add new faces," the AAP leader said while announcing the launch of a membership drive for the party in MP.

"People fight elections. Our party has grown stronger by leaps and bounds which was seen when we won a mayoral election during civic polls in MP last year. At many places our corporators came out with flying colours," he claimed.

The local bodies' elections have sent out a loud and clear message to both the parties (BJP and opposition Congress).

"We are going to form the next government in MP. We have 2,000 to 2,500 corporators in the country," he said.

The Rajya Sabha MP also said the 'destructive and dirty politics' was giving way to the 'constructive politics' in India with the emergence of AAP under Kejriwal.

He said the AAP has fast emerged as an alternative political force in the country and became a national party in just ten years by forming governments in Delhi and Punjab while putting up an impressive show in Gujarat.

In the Gujarat assembly polls held last December, AAP won 5 out of 180 seats it had contested.

The BJP retained the power for the seventh consecutive term by winning a record 156 seats in the 182-member House.

"Now the people have a strong option in AAP which is dedicated to their uplift and welfare," Pathak added.

He alleged that Congress and the BJP indulge in 'destructive politics for the sake of power whereas the AAP built hospitals and schools'.

"These two things (hospital services and school education) are free even in developed countries," the AAP leader said.

Queried whether the AAP is promoting a 'freebie' culture at the cost of fiscal prudence and burning a hole in the public exchequer, Pathak shot back saying 'what's wrong in giving back people their money through welfare schemes?'

He said the Delhi government is in profit as it ended corruption that was eating up the state exchequer.

Targetting Congress, Pathak said the Grand Old Party forms a 'tactical alliance' with the BJP before elections, and later its MLAs get sold. "This means that voting for Congress means voting to BJP."

He alleged the BJP's agenda was to grab and retain power by any means and to serve that purpose, the saffron party buys MLAs and indulges in horse-trading.

"In contrast, the AAP builds hospitals and schools and provides services for free to the people with zero tolerance towards corruption," Pathak said, adding AAP wants India to become the most developed nation in the world with the support of the people.