As the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) gears up for the State Assembly polls scheduled to be held in early 2017, party’s national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will kick-start his Punjab campaign by addressing a mega rally in Muktsar next month.
Kejriwal is also expected to spend a considerable time in Punjab from next year.
Pitted against the seasoned political parties — the Congress and the SAD-BJP combine — AAP is yet to project any chief ministerial candidate in the State. The party is banking on Kejriwal’s image to wrest power in the State, just like it did in the national capital.
In October, Kejriwal had visited Punjab, which was hit by protests due to desecration of Sikhs holy book, Guru Granth Sahib. The party has been raising its voice against the problem of drug addiction and by raising issues related to farmers’ suicide and alleged irregularities in buying pesticides.
After having made its presence felt in the State during the lok Sabha elections, AAP had recently made structural changes in the State unit, which irked many in the party.
AAP had opened its account in the lok Sabha by winning four seats in Punjab in 2014 general elections. However, two of its MPs — Dharamvira Gandhi and Harinder Singh Khalsa — have been suspended on the charge of anti-party activities.
To garner support from Punjabis residing abroad, AAP leaders Sanjay Singh and Ashutosh had visited Canada to woo NRIs.
“NRIs play a major role in Punjab polls as almost every household has someone who is working abroad, majority of which stay in USA, apart from UK, Australia and Malaysia.
The party had reached out to NRIs even during lok Sabha polls and this is practised even by other parties. Political analysts believed that the NRIs played a major role in AAP’s winning four seats in the state by extending their support from abroad.
“Even in this election, the NRIs will play a major role,” said an AAP leader.