AAP intensifies preparations for Delhi polls; buoyed by Sisodia's release

Energised by the release of senior leader Manish Sisodia from jail after 17 months, the AAP has intensified its preparations for next year's Delhi Assembly elections, organising workers' meetings in each constituency to design the campaign.

Former Delhi deputy chief minister Sisodia has been taking out marches in the national capital since August 16, meeting and greeting people, as part of the AAP's strategy for the polls. The aim is to cover all 70 Assembly segments in the city.

In a statement, the ruling party in Delhi said that besides Sisodia's 'padyatra', the work for strengthening the organization is also underway.

Sisodia has drawn up a strategy for the assembly elections by meeting party officials, it added.

A trusted lieutenant of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Sisodia walked out of jail on August 9 on bail after spending 17 months behind bars in connection with the excise policy case.

His release from Tihar has come as a huge relief for the party grappling with the absence of its national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and senior leader Satyendar Jain.

AAP National General Secretary (Organization) and Rajya Sabha MP Sandeep Pathak said the party is running several campaigns in Delhi for next year's election and many more would be launched in the days to come.

The Aam Aadmi Party workers' conferences are being organised in all assembly seats where local MLAs are presenting the reports of their four-and-a-half years of work before the public, he said.

So far, conferences have been organised in 18 Assembly segments constituencies with local MLAs and state vice-presidents attending those, Pathak added.

He said the top leadership of the AAP will take part in the workers' conference to be held in Chhatarpur on Monday.

"We are going to every assembly constituency and connecting with people. We are giving them information about our work done in the last four-and-a-half years. We are directly communicating with the public. Booth mapping work is also going on at the assembly level," Pathak said.

Sisodia said, "We have come to do politics of work. After coming out of jail, I am continuously meeting people. I am visiting schools to meet children and taking out 'padyatras' across Delhi."

AAP Delhi convenor Gopal Rai on Saturday announced the launching of an 'Auto Samvad' campaign.

Asserting that Chief Minister Kejriwal is very concerned about the welfare of auto-rickshaw drivers in the city, he said the state-level conference of the party's autorickshaw wing will start on August 20.

This campaign will be conducted by a 14-member committee, he said.

"I request the auto-rickshaw drivers of Delhi to raise their voices against the BJP. If you (people) remain silent during the elections and the Kejriwal government is gone, then you will be charged double the price of the free electricity, water, schools and hospitals," Rai, a minister in the AAP government, said.

He said Kejriwal has sent a message from jail that all office bearers of the party should hold 'Auto Samvad' across Delhi, enumerating the work done by the AAP government.

"Arvind Kejriwal has said 'till the time I am in jail, all our auto wala brothers will together become my representatives and communicate with the people at the auto-rickshaw stands and convey the truth to the people'," Rai added.

Arvind Kejriwal, who is also the AAP national convener, was arrested by ED on March 21 in a money laundering case linked to the alleged excise policy scam. The Supreme Court has granted him interim bail but he is still in jail as the CBI had arrested him in a related matter.