The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), in a press conference held in Bengaluru on Thursday, announced that they will be contesting the upcoming Karnataka assembly elections.
Prithvi Reddy, the party's convenor for Karnataka said that "AAP will contest election as the voice of farmers and common people of Karnataka”.
AAP, which has contested assembly elections in Punjab, Goa and Gujarat, currently holds power only in Delhi. The party suffered a setback after it failed to win a single seat among the 29 candidates who contested the recently concluded Gujarat assembly elections.
Pankaj Gupta, National Secretary of AAP, said at the presser, “We called Sanjay Singh, the National Spokesperson for AAP, to come here and experience the work of party members in Karnataka first-hand, and take his experience back to the Political Action Committee. We hope that we can deliver the good news of the party contesting the Karnataka elections soon.”
Sanjay Singh, Spokesperson for AAP, said he is confident that the party’s anti-corruption stand will be popular here as well.
“Karnataka has three major parties – Janata Dal (Secular), Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress – which are blaming each other in corruption cases. AAP will offer a better, honest alternative to the Karnataka public,” said Singh.
He also called out the Congress and BJP for creating divisions on communal lines. “In the Gujarat elections, there was no discussion on electricity, road or waterworks by BJP leaders, but we heard discussions on Pakistan and Hindu and Muslim,” he said.
The party also revealed that Santosh Nargund, a former aeronautical engineer, will be contesting a seat from the Hubballi-Dharwad region, taking on BJP veteran Jagdish Shettar. Santosh was presented with the characteristic AAP cap on Thursday. “I left my job and involved myself in the local issues of Huballi and Dharwad for the last two years, since Hubballi is my hometown. Everyone says the Congress has been ruling for the past 70 years, but in my region, Jagdish Shettar has been in office for almost 30 years now. I will fight for AAP to improve conditions in my home region,” said Santosh at the press conference.
The party’s Political Affairs Committee, which comprises senior party leaders including Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh and Gopal Rai, will take the call whether AAP will be contesting from Karnataka or not.