M A I N   N E W S

AAP to take on Hooda in his bastion
Tribune News Service

New Delhi/Chandigarh, February 15
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) today decided to launch its General Election campaign with a rally at Rohtak in Haryana with Arvind Kejriwal being its face. Another rally will be held at Kanpur next month.

Having resigned as the Delhi Chief Minister on Friday, Kejriwal and his party’s political affairs committee met to chalk out future plans. The choice of Rohtak as the venue for the first rally (on February 23) is significant as the regionis considered a stronghold of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, whose son Deepender represents the seat in the Lok Sabha.

Party leader Yogendra Yadav said the Rohtak rally would be addressed by AAP national convener Kejriwal. The rally at Kanpur will be held on March 2. The choice of Kanpur as the venue for the second rally is also interesting since it is currently represented by Union Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal. “Both these rallies will launch the Aam Aadmi Party’s national campaign,” he said. The AAP also announced the formal launch of its “Jhadu Chalao” anti-graft campaign that plans to cover 332 Lok Sabha constituencies in 24 states holding over 2,500 yatras over the next 10 days.

“We would expose the Congress and the BJP for defending the corrupt. The party will also enrol new members during the campaign,”party leader Gopal Rai said.

“Corruption is a big issue in Haryana in the wake of irregularities in CLUs and nepotism in government jobs besides other governance issues,” AAP chief spokesman for Haryana Rajeev Godara said.

Party sources said the “Jhadu Chalao” campaign of the party from February 18 to 23 will provide a perfect opportunity to expose the mainstream political parties, including the Congress, the INLD and the BJP-HJC alliance, on the corruption issue.

While the Hooda government is in the dock with a number of its senior functionaries being accused of demanding bribe for CLUs, INLD supremo Om Prakash Chautala and his MLA son Ajay Chautala are in jail for their role in JBT teachers’ recruitment scam.

While AAP is upbeat over the “tremendous response” to its membership drive in Haryana, Hooda yesterday sought to dismiss it claiming the “aam aadmi” was with the Congress and the new political outfit comprised “kuchch khas aadmi”(certain special people).

Senior INLD leader Abhay Chautala has already welcomed the emergence of AAP in Haryana hoping that it would spoil the electoral prospects of the Congress.

Target Haryana

• The Aam Aadmi Party will hold its first rally at Rohtak on February 23
• Jhadu Chalao, the party’s anti-graft campaign covering 332 LS constituencies in 24 states, will also be launched from Rohtak
• At present, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s son Deepender represents this Lok Sabha seat.