Arvind Kejriwal was granted bail by the Supreme Court in the Delhi liquor policy case. (File photo/PTI)
AAP Rajya Sabha member and national general secretary (organisation) Dr Sandeep Pathak said that Arvind Kejriwal will do his first roadshow in the Jagadhri assembly constituency in Yamunanagar
Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal is all set to hit the campaign trail in Haryana ahead of next month’s assembly elections.
Speaking to the media, AAP Rajya Sabha member and national general secretary (organisation) Dr Sandeep Pathak made the announcement, adding that Kejriwal will do his first roadshow in the Jagadhri assembly constituency in Yamunanagar on Friday.
“Now Kejriwal is fully prepared for the election campaign in Haryana. He will start the election campaign in Haryana on September 20…After Jagadhri, Kejriwal will also campaign in Dabwali, Rania, Bhiwani, Meham, Pundri, Kalayat, Rewari, Dadri, Assandh, Ballabgarh, and Badra. Currently, Kejriwal will campaign in 11 districts, where he will have 13 programmes. His schedule after this will be shared in the coming days,” Pathak said.
Kejriwal walked out of jail on September 13. He was arrested over corruption charges. Along with his deputy Manish Sisodia, Kejriwal was accused of corruption in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22.
On Tuesday, Kejriwal stepped down as the Delhi chief minister but remains the national convener of AAP.
Last week, News18 reported that the AAP chief will hold rallies and roadshows in Haryana that will go for voting on October 5.
While Kejriwal was in jail, AAP had launched the election campaign in Haryana in July with his wife Sunita at the forefront. Earlier this month, the party issued a list of its star campaigners for the state with the former chief minister’s name on top, hoping that he would walk free soon and join the electioneering.
The wish came true just two days later as the Supreme Court granted him bail.
Hopeful of a wonderful performance by the party in the Haryana polls, Pathak said that if one would look at the state’s politics, it is very clear that this time the BJP is going to be completely wiped out. The BJP government has been in power in Haryana for the last 10 years.
“The BJP itself did not trust its chief minister, so it removed Manohar Lal Khattar from the post and made Nayab Singh Saini the new CM. Why did the BJP need to bring in a new chief minister in the last year?” Pathak said. “They (BJP) did injustice to the farmers and insulted them. They insulted and did injustice to the soldiers and toyed with the honour and respect of our mothers and sisters.”
Pointing that the Congress too failed the state, he said Haryana first gave a chance to one party (Indian National Lok Dal) for five years, then gave a chance to two parties for 10 years each – Congress between 2005 and 2014, and BJP between 2014 and 2024.
“There is no party in Haryana that can say they’ve not gotten a chance. No one can complain…People are fed up with all the parties; they want change,” Pathak said.
It is the first time that AAP is contesting on all the 90 seats in the state and has decided to go alone. In 2019, it lost deposit on all 46 seats it contested on. The polling this time will be held on October 5 while the results will be declared on October 8.
