After Punjab win, AAP to contest all 68 seats in Himachal Pradesh assembly elections

Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor Arvind Kejriwal (File image/PTI)

After its dominating victory in Punjab, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on March 12 said it has decided to contest all 68 seats in the assembly elections in neighbouring Himachal Pradesh, slated for later this year.

“We already have party set-up in each of the 68 assembly segments and now we will consolidate further," News18 quoted senior AAP leader and Delhi Health Minister Satyender Jain as saying, following a meeting called by the AAP earlier today.

As part of its strategy to expand the electoral footprint in Himachal, the party would also be contesting the local body polls in Shimla next month, he added.

According to Jain, AAP has received feelers from some leaders within the Himachal-ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the state's prime opposition, Congress.

“There are good people in every party and they are all welcome to join us," Jain said, while noting that the party's core strategy would be to present before the Himachal voters the "Delhi model of governance" and the development works which its government in Punjab will undertake.

Hitting out the ruling BJP, Jain asked, "Why take tax if you cannot provide basic infrastructure like water and power free to people? Is the tax for netas or welfare of common man?"

Jain would be arriving in Shimla on March 18, where he is scheduled to initiate a fresh membership drive for AAP and attend a victory procession to celebrate the electoral success in Punjab.

According to AAP's Himachal in-charge Ratnesh Gupta, the party's attempt to connect with the voters in the hill state will yield success. “The people of Himachal Pradesh, too, are restless for change and we are going to be that change for the state," he told News18.

The Arvind Kejriwal-led party is beginning to view itself as an alternative to the Congress after dislodging the latter from Punjab. It won a brute mandate of 92 out of the 117 seats in the frontier state, whereas, the state-ruling Congress was restricted to 18. AAP's Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann, who got elected from the Dhuri assembly seat, is set to take oath as the new chief minister.

"Please understand that this political toddler, the AAP, was born only seven-eight years ago. Today, it is a force to reckon with and I think the AAP will be the national and natural replacement for the Congress," the party's Punjab in-charge Raghav Chaddha told News18.

In Himachal, however, the AAP faces a formidable challenge. Unlike Punjab, the BJP - the country's most dominant political party - is a key stakeholder and the incumbent ruling party in the hill state. Also, the Congress has shown signs of revival in Himachal as it won the recently held bypolls in Mandi and Arki Lok Sabha constituencies. while also sweeping the assembly segments of Fatehpur and Jubbal-Kotkhai in the by-elections.