New Delhi: Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will launch its nation-wide membership drive today. Called 'Main Bhi Aam Aadmi', the 17-day campaign aims to garner support in several states, where AAP is looking to contest majorly in the Lok Sabha elections.
"There is massive excitement in the whole country about AAP. Not just cities, the AAP frenzy is also evident in villages," AAP leader Prashant Bhushan had said after his party's national executive meet in Delhi on the weekend. (
Watch)
Along with Delhi, AAP is reportedly looking at the states of Haryana, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Gujarat to build a strong support system for the national elections. AAP has already announced that it will contest all the 90 assembly seats in Haryana, where state polls are due this year. According to sources, senior AAP leader Yogendra Yadav will be the party's chief ministerial candidate in Haryana.
Sources say amongst the big faces the party plans to field are Mayank Gandhi from Maharashtra and Sanjay Singh from Uttar Pradesh. However, party chief
Mr Kejriwal has said he will remain committed to Delhi and will not contest the polls.
AAP leader Kumar Vishwas has already declared that he will contest the Lok Sabha elections against Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi from his constituency in Amethi in Uttar Pradesh. Mr Vishwas earlier this week said he doesn't just want to take on Mr Gandhi in Amethi, but would also like the BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi to join the line-up. (
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"We will fight the elections from most seats in most states," Mr Bhushan had said last week. He later told NDTV that the party expects to win at least 50 Lok Sabha seats in the elections.
AAP has announced that its first list of candidates for the national elections will be out by January 20 while the full list will be released by February 15.
Of late, giving the AAP a boost are not so
aam aadmis. Senior journalist Ashutosh, dancer Mallika Sarabhai, top banker Meera Sanyal, Captain Gopinath who created Air Deccan, Infosys board member V Balakrishnan and singer Remo Fernandez have joined the AAP movement.