AAP may consider contesting couple of seats in Maharashtra: Goa chief

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has said it may consider fighting the next month's Maharashtra assembly elections on a couple of seats.

The Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP is part of the opposition's INDIA bloc. In Maharashtra, three constituents of the INDIA bloc - Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress and NCP (SP) - are fighting the elections under the banner of Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) against the ruling Mahayuti alliance.

Addressing a press conference at Kudal in Maharashtra's coastal Sindhudurg district on Friday, AAP's Goa unit president Amit Palekar said his party is working on strengthening its base in the Konkan belt, particularly in Sindhudurg and Ratnagiri districts, and also in Kolhapur in western Maharashtra.

The party has grown substantially in the Konkan belt, as the local population is looking at alternatives to BJP's Union minister Narayan Rane and his "politics of vendetta", he said.

"The AAP stands strongly with the INDIA bloc allies for the November 20 Maharashtra elections but if political developments permit, then the party may stake claim on a couple of seats where it is in a winnable position," Palekar said.

"There is a lot of pressure from the local party workers in Kolhapur as well as Sindhudurg to field party candidates for the upcoming elections," he said. Palekar, who is the party's Sindhudurg district in-charge, said the residents of Konkan were respectful and cannot tolerate Rane family's "language of arrogance".

Clean and honest politics is the need of the hour and only dedicated politicians can do it, he noted.