News Analysis India

Tag: aap

  • AAP gets a foothold in Maharashtra with wins in 70 gram panchayats

    Express News Service
    MUMBAI: As the Aam Aadmi Party looks to spread its footprints and foray into local polls in various states this year, it has received a shot in the arm by winning a significant number of village panchayat seats in Maharashtra.

    Of the total 14,000 gram panchayat seats, the AAP has won 70 seats across 13 districts. Party spokesperson and national executive member Preeti Sharma Menon said, “The AAP has made a splash in Maharashtra politics with a spectacular debut in the recently concluded gram panchayat polls.”

    “Our gram panchayat win tally is now 145/300! And we have full majority in 4 villages. This is a historic entry and it shows that the whole country is keen to have the Kejriwal model of governance in their villages and towns,” she said in another tweet.

    Chief Minister and AAP’s national convener Arvind Kejriwal congratulated “Team Maharashtra” for the victory and tweeted his best wishes to all the winners.  Menon said 300 party members had contested the elections and 70, including 13 in an alliance, emerged victorious.

    The seats won by the AAP are mainly in Latur, Nagpur, Solapur, Nashik, Gondia, Chandrapur, Palghar, Hingoli, Ahmednagar, Jalna, Yavatmal and Bhandara districts. The party’s “surge was powered by its women leaders, who make up 50 per cent of the winning seats”, Menon said. Dhananjay Shinde, AAP’s state secretary, said the win shows rural India is for clean politics and the new political culture the party stands for. 

  • AAP to hold bike rallies to mobilise people for farmers’ tractor parade

    By PTI
    CHANDIGARH: The Punjab unit of AAP on Thursday said it will mobilise people for the farmers’ proposed tractor parade in New Delhi on January 26 by holding motorcycle rallies across the state.

    In a joint statement here, party’s state president Bhagwant Mann and its farmer wing chief and MLA Kultar Singh Sandhwan said the party will hold motorcycle rallies across Punjab on January 23.

    They said people will be mobilised to join the farmers’ proposed tractor parade in New Delhi.

    All MLAs and office-bearers of the Aam Aadmi Party will take part in the tractor parade.

    The AAP has already announced that it will join the farmers’ tractor parade on January 26 in Delhi but “not as a political party”.

    “Today, our country is going through a very critical period and all the rights enshrined in the Constitution are being trampled on by the ruling party at the Centre,” they added.

    Farmer unions had announced that they will hold a tractor parade on Delhi’s Outer Ring Road as part of the protest against the new agri-marketing laws enacted by the Centre.

  • SAD, AAP spread lies against Punjab government over farm laws: Amarinder

    The chief minister slammed the Punjab opposition parties over their quot;campaign of lies, deception, and misinformation quot; to promote their collective agenda of quot;instigating quot; people.

  • AAP opens account in Mahrashtra as party candidates win Gram Panchayat election in Latur district

    By PTI
    LATUR: A panel of candidates of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday won the Gram Panchayat election in Dapkyal village in Latur district, probably its maiden foray into Maharashtra hinterland.

    The counting of votes for over 12,000 Gram Panchayats, which went to polls on Friday, was held on Monday.

    Though the village panchayat elections are not fought on party symbols, panels are fielded by political parties or local leaders.

    In Latur district, polling was held for 383 Gram Panchayats, officials said.

    Out of seven candidates, five candidates of the ‘Sampurn Nirmal Pariwartan Aam Aadmi’ panel, who are workers of the AAP, have won.

    AAP national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal hailed the electoral victory by posting a tweet in Marathi.

    “Congratulations to the winners! Realize the trust placed in you by the people, serve the people. Best wishes for the future,” tweeted Kejriwal.

    The winning candidates are Urmila Bhosale, Santosh Kasale, Pooja Patil, Kalimun Shaikh and Shankar Kamble.

  • Development vs Hindutva: Didi to follow Kejriwal-style poll campaign to counter BJP

    By Express News Service
    KOLKATA: In lessons drawn from the campaign style of Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP in the Delhi Assembly polls, West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has asked her party workers to initiate work for the 2021 manifesto highlighting development projects implemented by her government.

    The CM has sought suggestions from her party workers, MPs and MLAs to focus on specific issues to be showcased in the manifesto ahead of the upcoming Assembly polls.

    “We will follow the AAP model as it proved effective against BJP’s aggressive campaign in Delhi. In the manifesto, the CM wants to highlight a slew of government schemes implemented in the last 10 years. She also wants the party document to mention TMC’s promises made in the 2016 polls and how these were fulfilled on the ground,” said a senior TMC leader.

    It will also mention the time taken to complete the government projects which were announced before the 2016 polls.

    Party sources said results of a survey conducted by election strategist Prashant Kishor and his team would also find a place in the manifesto, which will be designed considering the BJP as the main rival.

    “The saffron camp’s divisive agenda will also be mentioned,” said another TMC leader.

    The TMC chief ’s focus on young foot-soldiers is due to the fact that the number of young voters aged between 18 and 25 is sizable in all the 294 Assembly constituencies.

    The sources said after filtering the opinion from cadres and elected representatives, a draft manifesto would be prepared.

    “The CM on several occasions has hit out at the BJP for bringing into Bengal leaders from outside. We’ll take it up ahead of the polls,” said a TMC leader.

  • AAP MLA Somnath Bharti arrested for derogatory remarks on condition of UP hospitals 

    Express News Service
    LUCKNOW: Aam Admi Party (AAP) MLA Somnath Bharti was arrested in Amethi on Monday for his alleged derogatory statement about the condition of hospitals in Uttar Pradesh. The arrest was made under Section 151 of the CrPC.

    Earlier in the day, ink was thrown at the AAP MLA by a youth while he was talking to police personnel over his visit to Rae Bareli district.

    Following the incident, Bharti got into an altercation with cops over his visit to Amethi. He was detained at a guest house. Meanwhile, the youth who threw ink on Bharti fled the spot.

    Bharti has been on a visit to Amethi and Rae Bareli. The incident occurred when he was trying to visit a school in Rae Bareli. 

    He had previously made a controversial comment regarding the condition of hospitals in the state. The AAP leader had reached Rae Bareli on Sunday night to inspect some government schools.

    Later talking to media persons, Bharti called it the “handiwork of BJP workers” while raising questions over the law and order situation in UP.

    On getting the information about the incident, CO Anjani Kumar Chaturvedi reached the spot. The MLA allegedly told the CO that the right-wing workers tryingto intimidate and that ink was thrown at him in the presence of cops.

    Bharti claimed that he was in Rae Bareli to oversee party’s preparations for the upcoming panchayat polls.

    AAP MP Sanjay Singh, meanwhile, said that the dictatorship in Uttar Pradesh was reaching a crescendo and efforts were being made to browbeat AAP leaders who raise questions on the poor conditions of health and education facilities in the state.

  • Punjab CM Amarinder Singh acting like BJP agent: AAP leader Raghav Chadha

    By PTI
    CHANDIGARH: AAP leader Raghav Chadha here on Saturday accused Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh of acting like a “BJP agent” and advised him to “officially join” the saffron party.

    He further alleged that the Punjab chief minister was “helpless” and “bound to appease” the Centre to “save” his son who is facing the ED investigation.

    The AAP leader further claimed that the Amarinder Singh-led Punjab government, which was part of the high-powered committee formed by the Centre on its three contentious farm ordinances earlier, had given its approval.

    Amarinder Singh is “acting like a BJP agent”, Chadha alleged while addressing the media.

    “My unsolicited advice to the CM is that you should formally join the BJP. My advice to you is please join the BJP officially. Then all cases against your relatives being probed by the ED, the CBI or corruption matters will be buried,” he said.

    “And then you can also work openly for the BJP.”

    He criticised the chief minister for approaching the President to seek scrapping of the farm laws instead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

    Chadha alleged that the CM did not come out of his residence to stand with farmers when they were facing water cannons and teargas shells on their way to Delhi.

    Amarinder Singh had met Union Home Minister Amit Shah but did not bother to travel a few extra kilometres to meet the agitating farmers, the AAP leader said.

    Chadha said the Congress-led dispensation has opposed the decision of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, which had said that the apex gurdwara body would not invite the prime minister for the upcoming 400th birth anniversary celebrations of Guru Tegh Bahadur.

    “Captain Sahib, his minister and his party are opposing the SGPC decision and are saying Modi should be invited. It proves that to save his son, Captain Sahib is behaving like an agent of BJP,” he alleged.

    The AAP leader claimed his party is providing legal assistance to the aggrieved farmers, who are moving courts against some BJP leaders for their alleged defamatory remarks against them.

    Meanwhile, Punhab cabinet minister and Congress leader Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa slammed Chadha and termed as “unfortunate” the politicking being indulged by him over religious issues.

    In a statement here, Randhawa outrightly rejected the allegations levelled by the AAP leader of him being ‘hand in glove” with the BJP because of disagreeing over the issue of SGPC for not inviting the Prime Minister for the 400th ‘Prakash Purb’ of Guru Tegh Bahadur.

    “Politics must be kept separate from the matters concerning religion,” he said adding, “the ‘B’ team of the BJP has no moral right to dole out certificates to the Congressmen over opposition to the saffron party.

    ” He said the Congress party has always opposed the BJP in the political circles whereas the Aam Aadmi Party has always “acted as the ‘B’ team of BJP”.

  • After Singhu, AAP starts installing Wi-Fi hotspots at Tikri border for protesting farmers

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: After Singhu border, the AAP has now started installing Wi-Fi hotspots at Tikri border for protesting farmers, party leader Raghav Chadha said on Friday.

    The AAP said Wi-Fi connections would help the protesting farmers to keep in touch with their families.

    ALSO READ: Agri laws: Wisconsin Speaker supports farmers’ protests; writes to Indian, US envoys

    The AAP has strongly come out in favour of the farmers protesting against the new agri laws and its national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has visited the Singhu border twice and expressed his support to the farmers.

    “After Singhu Border, Sewadaar @ArvindKejriwal’s WiFi sewa reaches Tikri Border. Free WiFi Hotspot installation in full swing at Tikri,” Chadha tweeted.

    ALSO READ: SC to hear pleas against new agri laws, all issues related to farmers protest on January 11

    The installation of Wi-Fi hotspots started at Singhu border where Chadha himself went to oversee the process.

    Chadha had said as and when demands come, they would install more such hotspots at other border points too where the farmers are protesting against the Centre’s three farm laws.

  • AAP accuses Punjab CM Amarinder Singh of implementing farm laws, demands his resignation

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Alleging that the Congress government in Punjab has implemented the contentious farm laws in the state, the Aam Aadmi Party on Wednesday demanded resignation of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh for “overt and open betrayal of the farmers”.

    Citing news reports about Punjab’s Minister of Food and Civil Supplies Bharat Bhushan Ashu’s comment that the Congress government has allowed farmers from elsewhere to sell their produce in the state, AAP’s Punjab co-incharge Raghav Chadha accused Singh of “lying to everyone”.

    “It is indeed sad to note that this year has begun on such a grim note with the biggest fraud and betrayal committed by the Congress and Amarinder Singh who have implemented the black farm laws in Punjab. The Aam Aadmi Party demands his resignation,” Chadha said.

    ALSO READ: Agri laws: Wisconsin Speaker supports farmers’ protests; writes to Indian, US envoys

    “With the backdoor implementation of the three black farm laws, Amarinder Singh has lied to everyone, he has betrayed not only the farmers of Punjab, but the fields of Punjab, the land of Punjab and the ‘annadaatas’ (food providers) of Punjab,” he said.

    Farmers from various parts of the country, mostly from Punjab, have been camping at different border points of Delhi for over a month now demanding repeal of the three agri laws, which were voted through in Parliament in September amid strong protests by opposition parties.

    ALSO READ: SC to hear pleas against new agri laws, all issues related to farmers protest on January 11

    Aam Aadmi Party have come out strongly in support of the protesting farmers.

    The three laws have been projected by the central government as major reforms in the agriculture sector that will remove the middlemen and allow farmers to sell anywhere in the country.

    However, the protesting farmers have expressed apprehension that the new laws would pave the way for eliminating the safety cushion of Minimum Support Price and do away with the mandi system, leaving them at the mercy of big corporates.

    ALSO READ: Undeterred by cold weather, rains, protesting farmers warn to intensify stir further

    The government has repeatedly asserted that the MSP and Mandi systems will stay and has accused the opposition of misleading the farmers.

  • Ready for debate, says AAP’s Manish Sisodia in Doon 

    Express News Service
    DEHRADUN: Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Monday said that the BJP is running a ‘sting model’ government while Delhi is progressing under ‘Kejriwal Model’. “While we have worked to improve health, education, power and water supply and generate jobs in Delhi, the BJP government in Uttarakhand remains in neck deep corruption and  stings,” said Sisodia. 

    Urban Development Minister Madan Kaushik who had ‘accepted’ Sisodia’s challenge to an open debate skipped the event on Monday, prompting the AAP leader to claim that the BJP had nothing to show for its four years in power in the hill state.

    ALSO READ | Uttarakhand cabinet minister responds to ‘debate challenge’ of Manish Sisodia

    The chair kept at the dais at the IRDT auditorium for Kaushik remained empty even as Sisodia attacked the state government for allowing corruption to flourish right under its nose. “If it had really done something for development, the minister would have come for the debate. He has not shown up because they have not done anything. Corruption is all that has happened in the state in the nearly four years of their rule,” Sisodia alleged.

    The Aam Admi Party leader also added that after Kaushik had accepted the debate challenge, he was expecting a ‘healthy debate’ which is a good sign for a democracy as leaders from two different governments would come face to face before the public and debate openly. 

    Sisodia had earlier challenged Kaushik to list even five works done for welfare of Uttarakhand state and people and challenged him for debate in Dehradun. Kaushik on Sunday had responded in a letter calling him a ‘tourist politician’, adding that politics is serious issue and not some ‘theater show’. 

    Addressing the party workers, Sisodia asked the workers to prepare for the 2022 assembly polls. “The electoral contest in year 2022 is going to be BJP vs AAP. It is only the AAP which can fulfil the dreams of Uttarakhand,” added Sisodia. 

    He further invited Kaushik to Delhi on January 6 for the debate adding that in Delhi he will be able to see AAP government’s work in education, health, power, water, women security and others areas. Responding to Sisodia, BJP state vice-president Devendra Bhasin, “AAP leaders are not serious and we are always ready for any kind of debate.”