Amid a raging debate on freebies, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal recently launched the AAP's 'Make India No. 1' campaign, calling for utilisation of public funds to provide free education to children and healthcare facilities to citizens, among other things.
He invited the BJP, the Congress and other parties to join the "apolitical" campaign, even as he blamed the parties that have ruled so far, without taking names, for the slow progress of India since independence.
According to AAP sources, the 'Make India No. 1' campaign is part of the party's renewed strategy to realise its national ambition by breaching BJP bastion Gujarat, where Assembly polls are scheduled to be held later this year, and stop the Modi juggernaut in the 2024 general elections.
The AAP's strategy for realising its national ambition has been in the works since it stormed to power in Punjab earlier this year and opened its account in Goa by winning two of the 40 assembly seats, the sources told PTI.
A series of big sub-campaigns have also been planned to rally support for the cause of making India the number one country in the world, they said.
"Through these campaigns, we will sensitise people to the fundamental issues and problems that the country is facing like unemployment, rising fuel prices and imposition of GST on various food items.
"The BJP-led central government has ruined the country's economy by writing off loans worth crores of rupees to benefit the prime minister's friends and also reduced the corporate tax but did not give any relief to the common people. We will tell people about the wrongdoings of the Modi government and their impact on their lives," a source said.
The party's campaigns will also sensitise the masses to the "significance and need" for providing free and quality education and healthcare facilities to all, free electricity and water as well as employment and livelihood opportunities to everyone in the country.
There has been political acrimony between the BJP and the AAP over the issue of freebies with the former accusing Kejriwal of using them as "bait" to lure voters. Kejriwal has said free education and healthcare are not freebies and can help eliminate poverty in one generation.
The Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) action against Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and the arrest of minister Satyendar Jain by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) will also figure prominently in the AAP's nationwide campaigns to counter the BJP, according to the sources.
"The CBI action against Sisodia has turned the public sentiment in our favour and we will go big with this during our campaigns because he has a very clean image," the source said.
"Kejriwal was scheduled to go on a two-day visit to Gujarat alone on Monday but we had to rework the programme to send Sisodia with him because our state unit asked for it citing public demand," the source said.
The CBI has named Sisodia as an accused in an FIR registered in connection with alleged irregularities in the implementation of the Delhi government's Excise Policy 2021-22. The agency raided 31 locations including his residence on Friday. Jain is behind bars on money laundering charges.
To effectively take its various campaigns to the masses, the AAP is banking on Rajya Sabha MP Sandeep Pathak, touted as the party's Chanakya.
"Pathak is building and strengthening our organisation in an organic manner across the country. He is in regular touch with the key office-bearers of our party's state units and travels across the country to hold meetings with them," a source told PTI.
A former faculty member of the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi and the AAP's Gujarat in-charge, Pathak is credited for the party's resounding victory in the Punjab elections.
The sources said these sub-campaigns will be launched one by one at the appropriate time to connect the masses with the party's "national mission".
AAP chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj said people have a lot of interest in the party and Pathak is working to convert it into votes.
"We are confident of rallying people's support for our cause. We still have about two years before the next general elections," he said.
While the AAP is confident of achieving its target, political observers do not see the party emerging as the principal opponent to the BJP in 2024 and said the Congress would still be playing that role.
Senior journalist and political analyst Neerja Choudhury said the AAP has certainly brought in a new political energy and force and is on its way to expanding its footprint but the party playing a key role at the national level is going to be "a long haul".
Noted political analyst Abhay Kumar Dubey said the AAP is the only regional party that has been growing continuously since its inception and is in power in two states. He said the Kejriwal-led party has a significant presence in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.
"But I am not saying that it will win the elections and become the main opposition party in Gujarat or Himachal Pradesh. I am only saying that it is in a significant position and the BJP has sensed the danger. That's why we are seeing the CBI raids in Delhi," he said.
The "AAP model" has generated curiosity among people in different parts of the country and has raised hopes but in 2024, "the Congress will be the principal opponent to the BJP". The AAP will challenge the BJP in Delhi and Punjab, he said.
