New Delhi: A day after Arvind Kejriwal stepped down as Delhi Chief Minister, Aam Aadmi Party on Saturday made it clear that it would contest the Lok Sabha polls under his leadership.
"...It is clear that Aam Aadmi Party will contest general elections under Kejriwal's leadership across the country," senior AAP leader Yogendra Yadav told reporters here.
The party also announced nation-wide anti-graft campaign against Congress and BJP from February 23. Kejriwal will kick-start the campaign with a rally at Rohtak in Haryana, party sources said.
Speaking to reporters after the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) meeting, party leader Yogendra Yadav said, the the rally will be addressed by party's national convenor Kejriwal.
After Haryana, the party will hold its second rally at Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh on March 2, he said.
"Both these rallies would launch Aam Aadmi Party's national campaign," Yadav said. The party also announced to kickstart its nation-wide anti-corruption campaign 'Jhadu Chalao Yatra' from Saturday.
"In 332 Lok Sabha seats of 24 states, around 2,500 Yatra starting from today will be organised in the next ten days. We would expose Congress and BJP for defending corrupt persons during this campaign. Besides, party will also make new members in this campaign," party leader Gopal Rai said.
Of the 2,627 yatras in the campaign, the party will undertake a chunk of it around 461 in Uttar Pradesh, followed by 450 in Haryana and over 300 in Maharashtra, 270 in Bihar and 174 in Punjab. These are the states where the party has been aiming to dent the Congress and the BJP strongholds.
LG sends report to Prez on political situation in Delhi
Kerjriwal on Friday resigned as Delhi Chief Minister shortly after his government was defeated on the issue of tabling of the Janlokpal Bill in Delhi Assembly in the face of a united resistance by outside supporter Congress and BJP.
Congress and Opposition BJP said Kejriwal was never serious about governing and was looking for an excuse to 'run away' to cover up his 'failure' to deliver on his commitments.
Kejriwal was 'looking for an excuse to run away', says Cong
The BJP also made it clear that the party would seek fresh elections in Delhi and was ready for it rather than form an alternative government since it did not have the required numbers in the state Assembly.
Ahead of the meeting of Political Affair Committee (PAC), AAP leader and former PWD minister Manish Sisodia said the LG should dissolve the Assembly as recommended by the Cabinet because it was based on a decision of majority government.
When asked about the agenda of the meeting, party leader Yogendra Yadav said the main focus of the meeting is to analyse the circumstances after Delhi government's resignation on Friday. "We will focus on party's strategy and also analysis the situation after Delhi Government's decision of quitting for the Jan Lokpal Bill," Yadav said.
Next - No point staying in power after Jan Lokpal setback: Bhushan
No point staying in power after Jan Lokpal setback: Bhushan
New Delhi: Holding BJP and Congress responsible for the fall of Arvind Kejriwal government, AAP leader Prashant Bhushan on Saturday said the party was left with no option but to quit as implementing Jan Lokpal was their top priority.
"From the beginning, Congress and BJP were against this bill and that is why they didn't support the government. Both party leaders don't want the country to be corruption-free," he told reporters here. Bhushan maintained that Aam Aadmi Party was not formed to get power, but for making India a corruption-free country.
"AAP has been formed to root out corruption from the country. Passing Jan Lokpal in the Assembly was the first priority of the AAP government. As we were not allowed to pass this bill, we did not have an option but to get out of the government," he said.
Kerjriwal yesterday resigned as Delhi Chief Minister shortly after his government was defeated on the issue of tabling of the Janlokpal Bill in Delhi Assembly in the face of a united resistance by outside supporter Congress and opposition BJP. After the CM's resignation, the ball is now back in the court of BJP and Congress and both parties can stake claim to form the government in the national capital, Bhushan said.
"If Congress and BJP don't want to stake claim to form the government, LG has no option but to dissolve the Assembly," he said.
Asked if AAP leaders are running away from their responsibilities, he said, "Our government also wanted to implement Mohalla Sabha in Delhi. As Congress and BJP leaders were also against this model, the party cannot run government.
"Getting official posts in the government was not the motive of our party. Our party's motive is to change the system, but we are not being allowed to implement our motive, there is then no benefit to run the government," he said. Replying to his former ally Kiran Bedi's tweets - "Did Delhi CM resign for Lokpal or Loksabha?", Bhushan said she has become a BJP supporter.
Meanwhile, Congress MP Sandeep Dikshit slammed Kejriwal for stepping down as Chief Minister.
"We gave a chance to Kejriwal but he was not interested in running the government. Kejriwal has not done any positive work in his life and his party also didn't intend to run the government," he said.
The Congress MP accused Kejriwal of misleading residents of Delhi. "Running away from responsibility is his old habit... After his resignation, we will see what the LG now decides," he said.
