Post the recently-concluded Lok Sabha polls, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday held a high-powered meeting to review the outcome of the election results and the party’s performance in the state.
Besides reviewing its performance, the meeting discussed other public-centric issues including unprecedented hike in electricity tariff, poor health services and the sorry state of education, et al.
An outline of the action plan to launch the proposed statewide ‘Bijli Andolan’ in protest against the electricity hike was also discussed threadbare at the meeting, which lasted for hours, under the chairmanship of party’s Punjab unit’s core committee chairman and MLA Principal Budhram and the Leader of Opposition in Vidhan Sabha Harpal Singh Cheema besides other members of the committee.
A meeting with party nominees, who contested from various parliamentary segments, was also held to discuss the reasons for party’s dismal performance in the elections inviting suggestions to strengthen the party.
Cheema, after the meeting, maintained that AAP leaders discussed the party’s performance in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections. The meeting also expressed shock and dismay over the recurring hike in the power tariff and drew outline to launch the ‘Bijli andolan’ to force the state government to mull immediate roll back, he said.
In reply to question, Cheema said that the newly-appointed Power Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu should do his bit to redeem the government’s pledge to provide cheaper electricity to the people, a promise that the Capt Amarinder Singh Government had made to the people of the state, stating that he should immediately scrap all the agreements signed between the erstwhile BJP-Akali government and the private power players simply to usurp worth crore.
Cheema and Principal Buddhram said that a detailed review report, based on the core committee discussion and feedback of the party candidates, would be prepared and handed over to party’s national convener and Delhi Chief Minister by party’s state president Bhagwant Mann.
He said that we would take steps to strengthen the party base at the booth level and state level with a renewed vigour and zeal, saying that the structure of the party would not be dissolved, rather more office bearers would be inducted to broad base the structure.