Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is all set to replicate success formula of Delhi Assembly election nationally. One of the main agendas of the AAP during Delhi election campaign was to cut higher electricity tariffs, which paid the newly emerged party rich dividends. In the upcoming lok Sabha elections, the AAP plans to raise issue of higher electricity tariffs nationally and it would feature on the top of the party’s manifesto.
While addressing a Press conference in Ahmedabad on Friday, the AAP core committee member Sanjay Singh indicated that just like Delhi, people in almost all the States, including Gujarat, are suffering from higher electricity tariffs due to dubious role of electricity regulatory commissions.
“AAP would take up the issue of higher electricity tariffs along with corruption as the main agenda in the lok Sabha elections campaign,” said Singh who was in Ahmedabad to strategise on selection of candidates in Gujarat for the general elections. According to him, higher tariffs of electricity were nothing but a big scandal of electricity companies. Just like Delhi, cut in electricity tariffs for households are possible in States like Gujarat where rates per unit are too high, he added.
“We will form State-level screening committee to select AAP candidates for lok Sabha elections. The committee will send the list of probable candidates to central Political Affair Committee (PAC), which would take final call on the aspirants,” he said, while indicated that his party would field candidates from all 26 lok Sabha constituencies of Gujarat.
The AAP would shun those aspirants with criminal backgrounds, corruption charges and poor character records; he said adding that following the screening process if PAC would find any candidate with poor track records, even after filing nomination, the party would immediately stop supporting such candidate.
Till December 8, 2013, lok Sabha elections were seen as contest between the BJP and the Congress, but after the outcome of Delhi election, the battle is now triangular, he said, claiming that more than 5-lakh people have registered themselves as AAP members in Gujarat as on January 14, 2014.
When asked who would be AAP’s candidate against BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, Singh said that let Modi decide his constituency first and accordingly his party would take decision to put someone against him.