New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which earlier this week announced to contest all the seats from the hill state of Uttarakhand in the Assembly polls due in February 2022, has already begun preparations for the same in full swing.
According to party sources, the AAP has already dispatched a team from Delhi to Uttarakhand on Thursday to take stock of how the party’s situation on the ground is. Till recently, the AAP state unit of Uttarakhand was almost a defunct state unit which did not have much of activities going on in the state.
Highly placed sources in the AAP also confirmed to The Sunday Guardian that within the next 10 days, there would be a reshuffle of the AAP’s Uttarakhand unit keeping in mind the party’s decision to contest the elections there. The present AAP’s convener for Uttarakhand is S.S. Kaler, who is also likely to be changed.
The AAP has already appointed two prabharis (in-charge) for each of the 13 districts in Uttarakhand. The party is also in the process of recruiting volunteers and have opened registrations in the state. The AAP has said that they are going to focus on booth wise recruitment of volunteers and create a cadre for AAP volunteers in the state.
Party sources also told The Sunday Guardian that keeping in mind their earlier mistakes, the AAP will now ensure that local leaders from Uttarakhand are given importance and all tickets are given to local leaders of Uttarakhand.
AAP’s Uttarakhand in-charge and MLA from Sangam Vihar in Delhi, Dinesh Mohaniya, who is also currently touring Uttarakhand, told The Sunday Guardian over telephone that the AAP came to the decision of contesting the Uttarakhand elections after a lot of representation was made to Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal from the people of Uttarakhand, requesting him to contest the state Assembly elections.
“After a lot of people came to Arvindji requesting him to contest elections there, we conducted a survey on whether we should contest elections there or not and 62% of the respondents said that yes AAP should contest elections as they are fed up with the Congress and the BJP governments. They have seen both these parties in governance for 20 years now and they want a change,” Mohaniya said.
He further added that Uttarakhand being close to Delhi, people from the hill state have heard and read about the Delhi model that AAP has created in the national capital, which is why they want to see an AAP government in their state also.
“A lot of people from Uttarakhand come to work or study in Delhi, they are aware of the good work that the party has done in Delhi. And the sentiments for AAP have grown manifold during the period of lockdown and when migrant labourers came back to their villages. They have spoken about the Delhi model to their neighbours and friends in the state. This is why an overwhelming majority of the people now want a change,” Mohaniya said.
The AAP has promised that if the party wins the Uttarakhand election, they will create employment for the people of Uttarakhand in their home state as more than 4 to 5 lakh people have to venture out of their state in search of work. The party has also promised to create mohalla clinic type “gram” clinics in every village as, according to the party, the state lacks basic medical facilities in the villages of the hill state.
“Schools and medical facilities that the Delhi government has made is talked about across the country. We will create world-class schools and medical facilities in Uttarakhand like our government has done in Delhi. The people of Uttarakhand will not have to go to other states for treatment or for schooling. The state also has abundance of natural resources; if our government is elected, we will tap into these resources and provide the youth of Uttarakhand employment in their own state.” Mohaniya told this newspaper.
Uttarakhand is currently ruled by the Trivendra Singh Rawat-led BJP government. The Uttarakhand Assembly has 70 seats and the AAP is likely to contest all the 70 seats. The AAP had earlier contested from Uttarakhand in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, but was not able to win a single seat from the state.