AAP seeks polls, begins signature campaign today

The AAP’s signature campaign meant to stir the demand for fresh polls will start on Wednesday from party leader Manish Sisodia’s Patparganj constituency.

The party geared up for the campaign after its week-long ultimatum to the Centre and Lt Governor Najeeb Jung to dissolve the Delhi Assembly. In next fortnight, the party said it plans to reach out to nearly 35 lakh households in 70 constituencies.

The former Delhi education minister Sisodia will flag the campaign along with AAP Delhi convenor Ashutosh and state unit secretary Dilip Pandey in west Vinod Nagar area in Patparganj constituency.

In this door-to-door campaign, a team of 10 volunteers under booth-level in-charges will seek out voter opinion on holding fresh elections. And considering that it will be a start of party’s electoral campaign, the top leadership including senior AAP leaders to MLAs is set to actively shoulder the campaign.

“The deadline is over. Now we will have to go to each household in Delhi. For us election campaign has begun,” the party chief Arvind Kejriwal had said in a Google hangout on Saturday.

While soliciting support for the signature campaign, AAP’s pamphlets will address issue of rise in power and water tariffs, water shortage and power cuts, and corruption by police and MCD officials.

The cell phones of party workers will be armed with video messages, which they can share with people, said a party leader.

Launching a salvo on the BJP-led central government, AAP in its press statement said, “The AAP has also decided to expose the BJP’s doublespeak on full statehood of Delhi during its campaign. On the one hand, its central government is curtailing powers of critical anti-graft mechanism, Delhi’s Anti Corruption Branch and on the other hand, it is indulging in gimmicks of floating balloons like full statehood.”

The party leaders, however, claim that more impetus would be on highlighting their party’s achievement during 49-days of rule.