Kolkata: Buoyed by its success in Punjab, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is looking to cement its popularity and contest the panchayat poll in West Bengal scheduled next year. The party that made an entry in the state as early as 2014, however, has not been on a steady footing here so far.
On Sunday, AAP’s Bengal unit took out a rally, Padarpan Yatra, from Girish Park to Esplanade, its first in the past few years. AAP supporters carried posters and brooms, the party symbol, and shouted “Kejri bhai zindabad” while thanking people for the crushing mandate.
“Our Bengal plan was decided in February 2020. (Party national convenor) Arvind Kejriwal has plans for the state and he has given the go-ahead. We worked silently and set up bases in 16 districts across Bengal,” said Sanjay Basu, AAP’s Bengal observer.
“We did not want to contest the assembly poll as we were focused on the four states. Meanwhile we waited for our organisation to grow strong here. We will now contest in the panchayats wherever we have some strength,” Basu added. AAP entered Bengal in 2014. “After the Kolkata rally, we will start taking up programmes in the districts,” Basu said.
On Monday, AAP’s women’s wing will hold a press conference to highlight the condition of women in Bengal in contrast to AAP-ruled Delhi.
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/aap-holds-rally-in-kolkata-eyes-bengal-panchayat-polls/articleshow/90190627.cms
