To take stock of the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, an important meeting of the Aam Aadmi Party MLAs and top leaders was held on Thursday. It was decided in the meeting to intensify the struggle to get Delhi Chief Minister Shri Arvind Kejriwal and other senior AAP leaders out of jail as also to speed up the pace of development work in Delhi that was stalled due to the election Model Code of Conduct.
The meeting was attended by AAP National General Secretary (Organisation) Dr Sandeep Pathak, Rajya Sabha members Shri Sanjay Singh, Shri Raghav Chadha, Shri ND Gupta; Cabinet ministers Shri Gopa Rai, Ms. Atishi, Shri Saurabh Bharadwaj, Shri Kailash Gahlot, Shri Imran Hussain and party MLAs.
Addressing the media, AAP Delhi State Convenor and cabinet minister Shri Gopal Rai said after the Lok Sabha elections, we held the first meeting with all the MLAs and leaders of Delhi today and discussed the recent election. And the reports that have come from everywhere about the election results of the entire country have given rise to a hope among the people that the way the Central Government was constantly attacking the rights of Delhi, the way the Central Government overturned the rights of the elected government even after the decision of the 5-member bench of the Supreme Court, snatching the rights of the people of Delhi, picked up the elected Chief Minister of Delhi, Deputy Chief Minister, Health Minister and put them in jail. “Everyone is confident that the Central Government will reconsider this in accordance with the mandate of the people and will change the policy of usurping the rights of Delhi,” he said.
Shri Gopal Rai said secondly, after the arrest of (Delhi Chief Minister) Arvind Kejriwal ji in Delhi, there was disappointment in the entire party, but the way all the workers, all the MLAs united and fought the election strongly. Now we have decided that since Arvind Kejriwal ji is in jail, our struggle will continue. “One important decision that we have taken is that due to the last Lok Sabha elections, the Model Code of Conduct was in force in Delhi as well as in the entire country, due to which development work in Delhi was stalled for the last two months. Today it has been decided that all the MLAs will hold meetings with workers in their respective assemblies on Saturday and Sunday and all the development works will be taken up. All the MLAs will remain among the public and will take the development work forward at a fast pace,” he said.
The AAP Delhi State Convenor said today it has been decided with the MLAs to hold a meeting of workers of the entire state on June 13. So today we have held a meeting with the MLAs, the day after tomorrow (June 8) we are holding a meeting of all the councillors and on June 13 we will hold a meeting with the state workers. And the way the whole of Delhi is fighting together against this dictatorship, as long as Arvind Kejriwal ji is in jail, our fight will continue, and we will take this fight forward with more strength. “On one hand we will fight against this dictatorship and on the other hand we will speed up the development work that was stopped after the (election) code of conduct,” he said.
Answering a reporter’s question that why Delhi voted for the BJP, Shri Gopal Rai said broadly speaking, since the last two elections in Delhi, we have been seeing a trend that people vote differently in Lok Sabha elections and differently in Vidhan Sabha elections. “People of Delhi have repeated the previous pattern in Lok Sabha elections, the previous pattern will be repeated in Vidhan Sabha elections too. That is why we have now focused on this that we will start the development work in Delhi at a fast pace on a war footing,” he said.
Replying to a reporter’s query as to what did the AAP gain in entering into an alliance with the Congress, the Delhi Cabinet minister said the biggest benefit of this was that the margin of victory and defeat got reduced.
In response to a media persons question that why Delhi voted overwhelmingly in favour of the BJP, the AAP Delhi State Convenor said the situation was adverse. The day Arvind Kejriwal ji was arrested, the whole country was talking about one thing and the BJP was dreaming that the Aam Aadmi Party will be finished, their workers will be scared, their MLAs will defect. There was a huge difference in the circumstances of the elections we have fought so far and this time. “The way the Aam Aadmi Party workers, councillors, MLAs fought on the streets and the way they fought the elections with great vigour, the party has taken it positively that in these adverse circumstances, with rock solid unity, with courage and determination, we have fought their money power, their slogan of crossing 400 in every way and have given a tough fight to the BJP,” he said.
Shri Gopal Rai said as we have fought this election with more strength than the last Lok Sabha elections, the party has highlighted it positively. “On behalf of the party, I want to officially congratulate all the workers and office bearers of party in Delhi for the courage they have shown, and we have to continue with that. We won Delhi in the past; we will win again,” he said.
Ruling out any alliance in the next Delhi assembly polls in response to a reporter’s query, the AAP Delhi State Convenor said it is very clear from the beginning that the INDIA alliance is for the Lok Sabha. We have fought the Lok Sabha elections together with honesty. There is no alliance across the country for the Delhi Assembly elections. And we will fight this battle in Delhi together with the people of Delhi and win it, he concluded.
