‘The youth is getting attracted towards AAP, women are also getting attracted’.
New Delhi: After the victory in Punjab, the AAP is focusing on the coastal state of Gujarat by “aggressively” setting up booth level committees which the party leaders say will be completed by August end.
This will give party an edge in ground-level politics and in transforming its supporters into voters, the party leaders say.
Sources privy to developments in the party said that booth committees will at least have 10 members, and the numbers can go up according to the need. Currently, there are 55,000 booths in Gujarat. The Delhi-based party will have 600000 registered office bearers. In the meantime, AAP has started screening its party-men to pitch them pointed responsibilities, to enhance coordination among the rank and file. AAP leaders believe, there has been no strong leadership in Gujarat after PM Modi left the state politics, and for a stronger leadership, AAP has to ushered in to give people a leader who can stand for them and fulfil their needs.
An AAP leader, after doing several rounds of internal surveys and assesments, said: “We are for sure taking the place of the Congress, and the next six months are a crucial phase for us to prepare and to prepare better and bigger.”
The party believes six months’ time is enough for it to replicate the Delhi-like magic where it came to power after contesting its very first election in 2013.
Talking to The Sunday Guardian, State General Secretary Manoj Surathiya said, “We will have teams in every booth. Before Punjab, our organisation was scattered, we at each level did not have strength. At some places we were weak and at others we were strong. But after Punjab, in all areas of Gujarat, our organisation has increased in an organised way. And now, the confidence within our cadre has also increased. Volunteers are also confident and they are taking it very seriously to fight the elections and edge the other parties out of race.”
Surathiya added, “For now, we are getting public support; for example, people are supporting the “bijli andolan” movement. Wherever we have gone door-to-door and met people, all have agreed that the prices of electricity are very high. There is free electricity in Delhi, the same should be replicated in Gujarat, is what people on the ground are saying. The way people are associating themselves with the Aam Aadmi Party, shows that there is a positive wave in our favour on the ground. Moreover, the youth is getting attracted towards AAP, women are getting attracted. The AAP is going to perform very well in Gujarat this time.”
Based on the party’s internal assessment, AAP could win 12 to 15 seats in Surat, according to an AAP senior leader. The party believes the place could emerge to be its epicentre. There are 16 constituencies in Surat. However, a Gujarat-based analyst who works for one of the political parties in the state said, the AAP is far behind in organisational structure compared to the Congress, but if they are able to reach the 600000 member mark here, it will surely be bigger than Congress.
“The people here haven’t changed their perception so suddenly that they will vote for the AAP. After hearing people’s views on the ground, it seems that they may again bring BJP into power no matter how much anti-incumbency the saffron party has. There are still months left and if AAP persists, maybe things could change, because, for now, Congress seems to be sleeping,” he added.