AAP Announced Candidates Arvind Kejriwal Stepped Up Efforts to “Fish” in Congress Waters…
NEW DELHI : The Aam Aadmi Party has stepped up efforts to “fish” in Congress waters for “strong candidates” ahead of the 2025 Delhi Assembly elections. The party has released a list of eleven candidates four days before the election is announced, throwing a challenge to other political parties. Usually, candidates are selected after the election dates are fixed.
A top AAP leader said their focus is on preventing the party’s revival in the city – even if there is a national-level alliance between the two India Block partners. By announcing its candidates, the AAP has also indicated that it will not have an electoral alliance with any outfit.
The AAP and the Congress managed to build a consensus for the April-June Lok Sabha elections, but were unable to strike a deal for the state elections. The most recent example of this was last month’s Haryana election, which the Congress lost amid criticism that its state unit refused to share seats.
Meanwhile, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal will personally oversee his party’s bid to win the Delhi assembly election for the third consecutive time. Sources said the former chief minister – who resigned in September after (finally) securing bail in the alleged liquor policy scam – will “micro-manage” the re-election bid. The party has kicked off the campaign today with its first list of 11 candidates. Three political leaders in the list have recently joined the AAP from the Congress. The other three have joined from the BJP.
According to information received, Kejriwal is reviewing each of Delhi’s 70 assembly constituencies and also assessing the performance of each of the party’s MLAs. Of which 62 have been elected and 58 still remain. The game plan may involve the removal of sitting MLAs to counter the anti-incumbency wave. This first list has already seen three sitting MLAs being dropped – Gulab Singh (Matiala), Ritu Raj Jha (Kirari), and Abdul Rehman (Seelampur) replaced by Sumesh Shaukeen (Congress), Anil Jha (BJP) and Zubair Choudhary (Congress). Survey teams have been tasked with getting feedback from each seat and preparing a list of potential candidates; this includes new faces from the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Last week, Kejriwal had called the 2025 Delhi election a ‘dharmayuddha’ or ‘fight for justice’ and compared it to a similar battle in the Hindu epic Mahabharata. “They (BJP) have money and power like the Kauravas… but God and people are with us, like they were with the Pandavas,” he said. And 10 days before that, the former chief minister kicked off the campaign with a tried-and-tested promise – waiving off “inflated” electricity and water bills issued while he was in Delhi’s Tihar jail.
The AAP has a huge battle ahead to win the 2025 elections. The party has been criticised by the BJP and even the Congress over a number of issues, including the annual air quality problems in Delhi and the poor state of infrastructure in the national capital. The BJP has also attacked the AAP over issues such as pollution in the Yamuna river and allegations that the ‘Aadmi’ party spent Rs 45 crore on renovating the chief minister’s bungalow, dubbed the ‘Sheeshmahal’ controversy. The BJP staged a huge protest over the issue outside the bungalow in Delhi’s Civil Lines area this morning. Notably, the protest was headlined by the saffron party’s newest high-profile member – former AAP leader Kailash Gehlot.
The AAP is also embroiled in the alleged liquor policy scam, in connection with which both then deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and Mr Kejriwal, as well as Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, were arrested.
(Pic: The Hindu)
