After a breakthrough in the Delhi Assembly polls, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is planning to field its candidates against Congress high command Sonia Gandhi from her family strong hold - Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh, and Gujarat CM Narendra Modi for the upcoming general elections.
The one-year-old party has reportedly set an agenda at its two-day meeting of AAP's executive committee, which began on Sunday, to contest the Lok Sabha polls which is scheduled to be held in Uttar Pradesh in May. "Our priority will be to free UP from the clutches of caste and religion," AAP spokesperson Sanjay Singh told Indian Express.
He added that the Samajwadi Party government was just running under the influence of SP president as 'Mulayam Singh Yadav Private Limited'.
"The Samajwadi movement started with Dr Ram Manohar Lohia, he didn't marry and didn't form a family. When asked who his family was, he used to reply that my party is my family. When people ask the same from Mulayam, he says my family is my party," Sanjay added.
He assured that his party was expected to challenge Gandhi in UP and that the contest 'won't be merely ornamental'. According to PTI, AAP leader Kumar Vishwas will pitch for a Lok Sabha seat against Rahul Gandhi in Amethi, UP.
"If the chief ministerial candidates in Delhi can fight face to face, why not prime ministerial candidates do the same?" he said.
AAP Delhi convenor Arvind Kejriwal fought against three-time Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit from her own Vidha Sabha constituency and won by a margin of more than 25,000 votes during the assembly polls.
Interestingly, AAP's Gujarat convener Sukhdev Patel also declared that his party is ready to contest in all of the 26 Lok Sabha seats from Gujarat, including Narendra Modi's turf.
"Yes, this is an important state as BJP's prime ministerial candidate comes from Gujarat. We have to take him (Modi) on here, as AAP has to fight all the Lok Sabha seats of the country when people are distressed with the present democratic system," Patel told PTI.
