Buoyed by Delhi election victory, AAP targets ambitious membership drive

The AAP had put on hold expansion plans and decided to focus entirely on Delhi after its defeat in the 2017 municipal elections in the national capital

Delhi Minister and Aam Aadmi Party leader Gopal Rai said Monday that the party will launch a month-long membership drive on February 23.

Delhi Minister and Aam Aadmi Party leader Gopal Rai said Monday that the party will launch a month-long membership drive on February 23.(ANI)

“We will hold a campaign from February 23 to March 23 in all the States to help people join the Aam Aadmi Party. Our aim is to make 1 crore people join this campaign,” he said according to ANI.

On Sunday, shortly after Arvind Kejriwal and his cabinet ministers took the oath of office and secrecy in Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan, the AAP held a meeting with state executives to discuss its expansion plans in the country.

“This is the right time to channelise the energy and enthusiasm of the volunteers to expand the party across the nation… Secondly, how this victory can be used as a springboard for expanding the party nationally,” Rai had said.

He elaborated on the party’s plans to contest local body elections in other states, starting with Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, which are likely to be scheduled in the next few months.

The AAP had put on hold expansion plans and decided to focus entirely on Delhi after its defeat in the 2017 municipal elections in the national capital.

The AAP’s expansion efforts have so far run into debacles in the 2014 and 2019 general elections. It contested 400 seats in the 2014 general elections but won only four seats in Punjab. In last year’s general elections, the AAP also contested 100 seats including those in Delhi, Haryana, and Punjab. But it managed win only one in Punjab’s Sangrur.

It retained power in Delhi winning 62 of the 70 assembly seats in the February 8 elections.