AAP plans youth manifesto for polls

Denials apart, Udta Punjab has brought focus on the drug menace in the state, and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is bringing out an exclusive youth manifesto ahead of the 2017 Assembly elections.

The AAP is hoping that the document will help connect with the youth and address their problems, including that of drug abuse and addiction. The AAP is starting early on this project and is likely to release the manifesto as early as next month in the holy city of Amritsar, where certain pockets have reported high incidence of drug abuse.
Political parties in Punjab, including the Opposition Congress and the AAP, know well that the upcoming elections will have drugs as an overriding narrative, the reason why no political party can afford to ignore the issue. For the AAP, however, its a continuation of the strategy adopted for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

The AAP was the only party in the last general elections to seriously underline the problem of rampant drug abuse in Punjab and promise an alternative.  It even reaped dividends. While the AAP drew a complete blank across the nation in the parliament elections in 2014, the party won 4 MP seats from Punjab where it centered its political discourse largely around drug abuse in the state.

The AAP’s proposed youth manifesto is to cement its resolve to deal with the problem of drugs and more, said a source.