AAP to contest assembly elections in Haryana, announces Arvind Kejriwal, says party to go past Delhi tally

With an aim to expand the Aam Admi Party’s foothold outside Delhi, party convener Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said his party will contest the Haryana Assembly elections scheduled to be held in 2019.

With an aim to expand the Aam Admi Party’s foothold outside Delhi, party convener Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said his party will contest the Haryana Assembly elections scheduled to be held in 2019. Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal, who was born in Haryana’s Siwani, also exuded confidence that AAP will go past the historic mandate of 67 out of 70 seats that the party received in Delhi. Kejriwal’s assertion comes just days after the Delhi High Court set aside the disqualification of 20 AAP MLAs in the office-of-profit case and asked the Election Commission to hear the matter afresh.

Kejriwal’s attempts to expand the party’s presence beyond Delhi is not new. Last year too, AAP had tried to expand its footprint and contested the Punjab and Goa Assembly polls. AAP, however, failed miserably in both the states. It had also fielded 33 candidates in the crucial Gujarat Assembly polls but all failed to make a mark. AAP has earlier said that it is likely to fight in the Rajasthan assembly polls to be held in 2018.

Kejriwal lashed out at BJP and Congress at “Haryana Bachao Rally” blaming them for the violence during Jat reservation stir in 2016. “Everybody in Haryana knows that BJP and Congress had got riots triggered between the Jats and non-Jats. Hooda and Khattar, both were together in it…. I want to ask where was Khattar sahab when Haryana was burning?” Kejriwal alleged. Lashing out at BJP, Kejriwal said that the ruling party at the Centre is the number one party in orchestrating riots.

“If you want riots between Hindu-Muslims, give them a contract and they will get it done in two minutes,” Kejriwal alleged.

Speaking of the party’s strategy, Haryana AAP convener Naveen Jaihind said, “We will soon initiate the process to choose candidates for all 90 seats in Haryana. People of the state are fed up with the politics of CBI (Congress, BJP and INLD) whose leaders only promote their family members.”