Following Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s rally in Panaji last week to initiate the party’s campaign to contest all the 40 seats in the Goa Assembly elections due next year, the AAP has started mobilising its resources in the state.
The AAP intends to take on the BJP-led government in the state, as well as the Congress, in the polls, with the promise of providing corruption free and better governance to Goans. Valmiki Naik, Goa state secretary of the AAP, said that the party has also formed a Goa core team of 15 people who talk and interact with people on a daily basis, while a 40-member team of coordinators for the different Assembly constituencies are working with a team of volunteers. The Goa unit of the Aam Aadmi Party has about 600 members, but the party has said that more and more people are joining in. “We are rapidly spreading in Goa with many new and capable people joining us every day,” Valmiki said.
Pankaj Gupta, Aam Aadmi Party’s Goa state convener, told The Sunday Guardian that it was the desire of the people of Goa, who were frustrated with both the Congress and the BJP’s “mis-governance” in the state, that made the AAP think of providing corruption free and better governance to Goans. The party has also promised to make Goa more attractive for tourists.
Asked about rumours of senior journalist Rajdeep Sardesai joining the AAP as the party’s CM candidate from Goa, Gupta said, “These are all rumours. There has been no discussion on this. But if a person like Rajdeep wants to join politics and the AAP, he is welcome. He is a nice man and an honest journalist.”
On Kejriwal’s role in Punjab, which will also see Assembly polls next year, Gupta said: “He is a mass leader and also our National Convenor. He will naturally be part of all rallies. He would campaign both in Goa and Punjab. But there is no question of him being the CM of Punjab.”