After its dismal performance in the lok Sabha elections, the dampened spirits of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) got a boost on Sunday as the fledgling party witnessed a decent turnout in its first public rally post elections. Despite the sweltering heat, thousands of supporters wearing AAP’s trademark white cap thronged the streets of Jantar Mantar and cheered for the former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal as he kickstarted a high-octane campaign for fresh elections in the national Capital. However, a shift in AAP’s support base was visible as people from the service sector and the upper middle class were missing from the rally.
In his nearly 35-minute speech at the rally, seen as an effort by AAP to regroup and regain its lost ground after it drew blank in the lok Sabha election in Delhi, Kejriwal also slammed lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung. He alleged that Jung was not taking decisions “independently” and was functioning under the influence of the ruling party at the Centre “to save his chair”. “Jung is trying to save his chair. If he does not listen to the BJP, he will lose his chair,” the AAP leader alleged.
Addressing the crowd at Jantar Mantar, the venue of the rally which holds historical significance for the Kejriwal-led party, the AAP convener announced to launch a door-to-door campaign if the Assembly was not dissolved within a week. He also demanded fresh elections to be announced immediately. “We are giving a week’s time to the Government. If they do not dissolve the Assembly, we will undertake door-to-door and signature campaign and demand dissolution of the Assembly so that fresh elections can be conducted. If elections are conducted now, AAP will get 40 seats, if it is conducted in October, we will get 50 seats and in February this shall increase to 55,” said Kejriwal. AAP leaders, including Manish Sisodia, Prashant Bhushan, Yogendra Yadav, Gopal Rai, Sanjay Singh, Ashutosh and Somnath Bharti, were present at the rally. He further went on to talk about inflation and drew a comparison of the same with his party’s 49-day Government. “Power bills came down to Rs376 per month from Rs11,250. Now, the pangs of inflation have returned as people have to pay Rs1,110 on power bills. Similarly, rates of water tankers were also slashed when we were governing, now the same has hit the roof with people paying as much as Rs4,000 for a tanker,” said Kejriwal.