AAP to contest assembly polls in 6 states: Kejriwal

Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party national convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said the party will contest elections in six states -- Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat.

He made the announcement at the ninth national council meeting of the AAP.

"Other parties have no vision and that is why they are talking about the past.

"AAP is the only party talking about the future and has the vision of 21st and 22nd century," Kejriwal said.

"In next two years, AAP will be contesting elections in six states -- UP, Uttarakhand, Goa, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat," the AAP national convenor said.

Kejriwal urged AAP members to strengthen the party at grassroots level.

"I urge party members to strengthen grassroots-level hold of the party across the country. The organisation has to be strengthened on a very large scale.

"The country is important for us and AAP is the vehicle and we need to work towards the development of the party," he added.

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said some of the clauses in the AAP's constitution were hindering the party's growth and they have now been amended.

"In the national council meeting, we also took the decision to amend some of the clauses in our AAP's constitution. With our experiences of the last nine years, we have found that there were some clauses which were bringing difficulties in the growth of the party," he said.

"We noted that the main problem is happening in the states where the party is new and trying to build its organisation. To make our constitution more useful we have made some amendments today," he added.

Elaborating on the amendments, Sisodia said earlier, the AAP's constitution noted that in every state the primary unit would be at the booth level but now it will be at the district level.

Which means in every state the primary unit of the AAP would be at the district level, he said.

The party has also decided that every AAP MP and MLA will be a member of the national council by default.

These elected representatives will also be part of the state councils of the party from their respective states.

Sisodia said the national executive in the matters of national organisation and state executive in the matters of state organisation will have the power to appoint an interim person for a particular post.

We have decided that every member will have the full right to criticise the leadership or to bring out organisational issues in all the party platforms. But no one should bring such issues in the public domain, he said.

The AAP has also allowed more than one person from a family to contest elections.

"Aam Aadmi Party will contest elections with full force on local issues of all those states," Sisodia said.

Kejriwal said apt handling of the COVID-19 situation in the national capital was due to the improvemnets made in the city's medical infrastructure in the las five years.

"This was the result of the work done by us in the last 5 years. We opened mohalla clinics and improved infrastructure in government hospitals. Because of this, the AAP government-managed coronavirus situation even though the pandemic had the worst impact on Delhi. We implemented home isolation and plasma therapy," he said.

Kejriwal said that the work done by the AAP government in Delhi is being recognised and appreciated across the country while the party is respected and loved across villages and states.

But when it comes to voting, they talk about how AAP is not established in these states, he said.

"We have to cover this distance. We have to form an organisation. The whole nation knows that people in Delhi get 24x7 free electricity, which is nothing less than the eighth wonder of the world. No other governments can do this magic except AAP," he said.

"You have to work hard, visit every village, meet people, and form an organisation on a huge scale. Sometimes, we feel as if the other person might take our place but it is not the time to think about this. Rather, it is the time to come together," Kejriwal said during the meeting.

He said the whole nation should be a part of the AAP.

We are not for AAP, we are for the country, and AAP is just a vehicle to change the nation, he added.