AAP rally was against ordinance — and a ‘soft launch’ of its Lok Sabha campaign

“The party will tell people about the good work being done in Delhi such as in the electricity, education and health sectors and how the Centre’s ordinance is stopping the government from doing its work,” added another party member.

While Delhi is AAP’s home turf — it has won two Assembly elections in 2015 and 2020 with a huge mandate — it is yet to win a seat in the Lok Sabha polls.

Party officials said AAP’s main focus will be on Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, where assembly elections are scheduled this year, and Haryana. It has also conducted surveys in these states. Following the rallies, it will identify candidates and CM faces. “Dates for the upcoming campaigns and rallies will be decided soon,” said a party official.

At Sunday’s rally, Delhi convenor and MLA Gopal Rai said, “Everyone asks what difference will the ordinance make? What difference does our opposition make?… We’ll show the BJP how we’ll reduce their vote share in Delhi to zero.”

The rally was also attended by Mann, MP Sanjay Singh and senior AAP MLAs. Former Congress leader Kapil Sibal too was there and the AAP said he had been called in his capacity as a constitutional expert.

Calling BJP the “Bharatiya Jugaadi Party” , Mann said, “The BJP has mastered the art of ‘jugaad’ politics. They buy MLAs, manipulate bypolls, and even resort to using governors and Lieutenant Governors to impose their preferred Chief Minister upon the people. This ‘jugaad’ party sustains itself in power not through the support of people, but through conniving tactics.”

Sibal called the BJP a “double barrel” government, with one barrel represented by the ED and the other by the CBI. “I stand before you today, recognising the urgency to unite the opposition against the Modi government. This is a fight for justice, and together, the opposition will defeat Modi in 2024,” he said.