New Delhi, May 8
The Aam Aadmi Party has decided to raise awareness about the work done by Chief Minister Shri Arvind Kejriwal amongst the people of different sections living in Delhi. For this, the AAP will start its fourth phase of the election campaign from May 13. Sharing this information, AAP Delhi state convenor Shri Gopal Rai said that during the campaign running from May 13th to 23rd, four different sections of the society will be targeted. The campaign will start with holding Trade Town Hall in East Delhi, Gramin Panchayat in West Delhi, Mahila Samvad in New Delhi and Purvanchal Samagam in South Delhi. This campaign of ours will be held at different places in all the Lok Sabha constituencies, in which we will tell the public what work the Kejriwal government has done for Delhi’s all-round development in the last 9 years. At the same time, our already running election campaigns, ‘Door-to-door’, ‘Jail Ka Jawab, Vote Se’ Sankalp Sabha and Smt. Sunita Kejriwal’s road show will continue.
BJP’s seats are decreasing in every state, its efforts in new states too have been rejected by public: Gopal Rai
Aam Aadmi Party’s Delhi state convenor Shri Gopal Rai said in a press conference at the party headquarters on Wednesday that the third phase of elections concluded in India on Tuesday. Voting has taken place on more than half the total Lok Sabha seats in these phases. The news coming from all over the country shows that the country does not accept the BJP’s slogan of ‘400 Paar.’ People are gathering to stand against the plan of the BJP to change the Constitution after winning 400 plus seats. The country will not allow the BJP’s secret mission to change the Constitution and destroy democracy to succeed at any cost. Its indications are clearly visible in the three phases of voting. It is clear from the polls that in the states where the BJP had majority of seats till the last time, in the same regions, now the BJP’s seats are continuously decreasing. The BJP also knew this beforehand, that is why it was planning to expand its foothold in new states, even there the people are not willing to accept them.
When BJP can put a sitting Chief Minister in jail, then how will common man raise his voice?: Gopal Rai
The three times elected and sitting Chief Minister of Delhi Shri Arvind Kejriwal was arrested and put behind bars in the middle of the election campaigning. From the villages of India to every part of the world, there was protest against the dictatorial attitude of the government to put an elected Chief Minister in jail. But the BJP-led central government was still adamant. They thought they will do anything they want, run arbitrary rule in the country, and still people will give them 400 plus seats and a chance to keep dictatorship on.
The arrests of Delhi’s Chief Minster Shri Arvind Kejriwal and Jharkhand’s CM Shri Hemant Soren is clearly become a trailer of the BJP’s dictatorship. Today people all over the country are asking that if elected Chief Ministers, who won by huge majority, can be put in jail without any evidence, then what will happen to the voices of the common people? Who will have the courage to raise the voice of a common man in the next government? Shri Gopal Rai questioned.
Despite Arvind Kejriwal being in jail, AAP’s election campaign is stronger than other parties: Gopal Rai
Shri Gopal Rai stated that the BJP thought that after arresting our supremo Shri Arvind Kejriwal, they will finish the Aam Aadmi Party, poach our MLAs, topple our government in Delhi, and the AAP will completely disperse. However, the way the people of Delhi, the volunteers of the AAP, along with all the supporters have come together to fight their dictatorship, the AAP has only become stronger. This arrest has given more strength to the AAP and has given us more courage to fight. The question that many people had about this was that how will the AAP run election campaign if Shri Arvind Kejriwal goes to jail? Even though Shri Arvind Kejriwal is still in jail, we are happy to say that if any party’s election campaign is going on with the most strength in Delhi, then it is the Aam Aadmi Party’s election campaign.
All election campaigns of AAP are getting huge support from people of Delhi: Gopal Rai
“We started the first phase of the election campaign with the ‘Jail ka Jawab, Vote Se’ door-to-door campaign in Delhi. There are 4 seats where the AAP candidates are contesting under the INDIA alliance: East Delhi, West Delhi, South Delhi, and New Delhi. We started the first phase of the campaign in these regions by going door-to-door. In the second phase, we started Sankalp Sabha under the ‘Jail Ka Jawab, Vote Se’ campaign in different wards of these Lok Sabha assemblies. These Sankalp Sabhas are being organised on a large scale and the enthusiasm with which people are joining us and taking oath in these Sankalp Sabhas is hardly seen in any party’s meeting today at the ward-level,” he stated.
“In the third phase, with the blessings and message of Chief Minister Shri Arvind Kejriwal, we started Smt. Sunita Kejriwal’s road show, which is going on throughout Delhi and public is joining these roadshows in large numbers. Our election campaign is running continuously throughout Delhi in these three phases. We are getting immense support from the public. We plan to continue running our campaigns with utmost enthusiasm till 23rd of May.”
AAP will go to people with strong election campaign in fourth phase: Gopal Rai
The nominations of all 7 candidates contesting under the INDIA alliance from both the AAP and the Congress (contesting from North East, Chandni Chowk, and North West) have been completed. The INDIA alliance has together decided that we will be starting the fourth phase of intensified election campaign from 13th May and run it for 10 days till 23rd May 2024, which is the last day of campaigning. The Aam Aadmi Party will now go amongst the public for its fourth phase of campaign where we will be targeting 4 different sections of the society. In the fourth phase, programs like Trade Town Hall, Gramin Panchayat, Mahila Samvad, and Purvanchal Samagam will be organized in all the Lok Sabha constituencies between 13th to 23rd May. The Trade Town Hall will start from East Delhi; Gramin Panchayat from West Delhi; Mahila Samwad from New Delhi; and Purvanchal Samagam from South Delhi. These different social segments within Delhi play an important role in the political situation of Delhi.
Four programs to be held in phase 4 of AAP’s campaign:
Trade Town Hall
Shri Gopal Rai stated that we will discuss this in a targeted manner because under the guidance of Shri Arvind Kejriwal, the AAP has done a lot of work in different sectors, whether its electricity, water, schools, hospitals, free bus travel for women or pilgrimage for the elderly. In Trade Town Hall, we will raise specific questions about the work that the government has done for the business class so far and what will be their expectations from us once our candidates are elected as MPs.
“The Kejriwal government is the first government which reduced VAT from 15 or 20% to 5% when first formed the government in Delhi. Kejriwal government is the first government that ended the ‘Raid Raaj’ in Delhi. In this year’s budget, we made a plan for the redevelopment of Delhi’s market, in which we aimed to increase the business of Delhi. But just like the BJP creates obstacles in every work, they created obstacles in this work also. Similarly, we will also complete that work, like every other work we have done, despite the challenges. We have also started food festivals at different places. Another big concern of businessmen was security in the market. Because of the way our government has laid out the network of CCTV cameras throughout Delhi, the traders in the market heave a sigh of relief. So, we will start a series of trade town halls regarding whatever work the government has done related to them,” he stated.
Gramin Panchayat
Gramin Panchayat will primarily focus on the development of villages. Our government has invested thousands of crores of rupees for the rural development of the villages of Delhi. In the current budget, which has already been passed, Rs 1000 crore has also been allocated for the development of villages. The aim of the Chief Minister is that there should not be even a single road in bad condition in any village. Whether it is Baraat Ghar or any other work of development, our government has approved funds for the development of all villages. The people living in these villages have already got the facility of electricity and water like the rest of Delhi.
Mahila Samvad
Mahila Samvad will emphasise on the security of women, including the installation of more CCTV cameras for the safety of women, free bus travel for women, and especially the special provision of giving Rs 1000 honorarium to each woman every month passed in this year’s budget. We will be talking about these topics in the Mahila Samvad.
Purvanchal Samagam
In Purvanchal Samagam, we will talk about the labour class. Today, 90% of the labour power comes from Purvanchal (eastern India). People have come here from villages to earn good money, they think that they will eat some, earn some, and also send some money to their families. But the way electricity and water were expensive here, all their money was being spent on these things. Today people get free electricity and water. Most of the labourers from the Purvanchal community work on minimum wage contract basis. Before we formed the government, the minimum wages of these labourers were merely Rs 8000. Today, we have doubled up the minimum wages to Rs 16000, and this has helped these labourers in surviving here and they are also able to send money to their families back home.
When our government was formed, the Purvanchal community used to have just 80 Chhath ghats. Today, Chhath Puja is performed at more than 1000 Chhath ghats provided by Delhi government. The AAP has helped the people of Purvanchal community to live with dignity. It can be said that today, the people of Purvanchal community are able to stand up due to the foundation laid down by the Aam Aadmi Party. The AAP has provided basic facilities like sewer, water, electricity, and roads even in the unauthorised colonies of Delhi. The party has worked diligently to help every section of the society.
Preparing one lakh people who will motivate others to vote to ensure maximum voting: Gopal Rai
Shri Gopal Rai said that we will focus on the work that Shri Arvind Kejriwal has done to empower different sections of the society in the fourth phase of our campaign. It will run from May 13th to May 23rd so that we can carry forward our work campaign together with every section of the society and gather people to answer the dictatorship of the BJP. We had also said that by May 23, we will prepare around 1 lakh people by making them pledge. These 1 lakh people together will motivate people to vote as much as possible on May 25. On that day, we will encourage people to come out of their homes and take them to the polling booths and will ensure that the arrest is answered through their votes. The Aam Aadmi Party is now ready to start its fourth phase of campaign. From the kind of response we are getting from the people, we are confident that the BJP is going to lose all the seven seats in Delhi badly this time. The INDIA alliance together is going to win all the seven seats of Delhi, he said.