LUCKNOW: Aam Aadmi Party is likely to launch its campaign for the UP Assembly polls with a mega rally in Lucknow in November-end which will be addressed by the party’s national convenor and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal.
Party sources claimed they have received a highly positive response during the recent ‘bijli yatras’ where AAP spoke to people about its poll promises of free power, free education, free health etc. “Our internal surveys are showing a very positive trend in AAP’s favour and it is time that we capitalise on it. Kejriwal was earlier focussing on assembly elections in Punjab and Uttarakhand, both of which are likely to take place around the same time as the UP elections but now, with the kind of response we are getting from the state, Kejriwal is likely to spend a lot of time here as well,” said a source.
What boosted the party’s confidence, said another an AAP member, was the response of chief minister Yogi Adityanath to Kejriwal’s declaration that Ayodhya would be included in the list of religious sites for which Delhi government runs a special teerth yatra scheme and that if voted to power, it would also extend to UP.
“We were not anticipating the CM to speak about Kejriwal’s recent visit to Ayodhya but the fact that he spent so much time talking about us means that AAP is a strong presence and has managed to rattle the ruling party. The Delhi CM tweeted in response to Yogi Adityanath’s comments as well, asking what his problem was if people from Delhi were given easy access to Ayodhya,” he said.
Lucknow will see the launch of the AAP campaign after which several more rallies will be held across the state. A party spokesperson added that the first priority is to issue the list of candidates after which campaigners would be decided and allocated. The election is likely to see most of Delhi’s MLAs with a UP connect camp in the state till at least February, indicated sources.
