Senior Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh met party workers in Mumbai on Sunday. The Mumbai visit is seen as an attempt by the AAP to expand party base in the city. In a conversation with DNA, the newly-elected Rajya Sabha member spoke extensively about AAP’s plans in Mumbai and rest of India. He also said that while party was looking to contest all elections, it was still time before they could talk more about it as they needed to first analyse organisational strength to contest elections.
Q. Of all the places, Govandi seemed to be a peculiar choice for the rally. Is it because it has sizeable Muslim population?
A. There are many people who are from Uttar Pradesh. They had called me for the program. There are people from my native place, Sultanpur and there are many from our Maharashtra unit. Such programs are happening everywhere. I am going everywhere. The idea of the meeting was to take the country forward. BJP is into hate politics and wants to divide while AAP wants to take country forward through love and unity. The biggest issue is tackle hate politics that is being spread. I do not think you should see this meeting here because there are Muslims. There were Hindus, Muslims, Maharashtrians, ‘Uttar Bharatiyas’. We do not do that kind of politics. We believe in taking everyone together.
Q. How soon will the AAP have an organisational set up in Mumbai? As of now there are people doing only coordination work.
A. Just few days ago, you saw a huge event in Amravati. After that there was a big program of Arvind Kejriwal where people came out in large numbers. In Mumbai and Maharasthra, the organisation is increasing and in coming days you will see a strong grassroot-level organisation.
Q. One of you leaders said that you will be contesting all upcoming elections. Will you be contesting Lok Sabha elections?
A. First, we will analyse our organisational situation. For example, after analysis, we announced our election plan in Karnataka, where we will contest on 50 seats. We are contesting both in Nagaland and Meghalaya. So in all poll-bound states, we will first see where do we stand. We will try and contest on as many seats as we can. In Gujarat, we did not contest all seats. Based on the strength and situation of our organisation, we will contest elections.
Q. Will you repeat old candidates or new ones will get a chance?
A. Let it be decided first (strength of our organisation).
Q. What kind of campaign will there be now. To ensure it has impact, what will you be doing? The campaigns have been sporadic.
A. We are focusing on public rallies and social media campaign. We are raising issues, especially corruption, from time to time. They were not as regular earlier because our organisation was not so strong. It is going very well now.
