(LiveMint)
After staying away the last time around, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) under its national convener, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, has started preparing for the Haryana elections with a message of building a “New Haryana”. Taking the first few steps for elections due in around 18 months, the AAP leadership has set itself a target to increase its presence across the 16,000 polling booths in the state.
As in Punjab and Goa assembly polls last year, the AAP is likely to contest all 90 seats in Haryana. After refusing to contest the Haryana election in October 2014, a rethink in strategy is taking place in AAP because the party thinks it can benefit from a political vacuum in Haryana by becoming a third option in the state. Also, the state’s proximity to AAP-ruled Delhi and the fact that Haryana is Kejriwal’s home state are factors in its favour.
