AAP prepares for Bihar foray, says won’t reach out to RJD, Congress for tie-up
Arvind Kejriwal-led party running a “Bihar mein bhi Kejriwal” outreach initiative; focusing on Purvanchali voters in Delhi
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Arvind Kejriwal. (File) 
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When the dust settled after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was ousted from power in Delhi earlier this year, one thing was apparent. The party had lost the support of Purvanchali voters — those from Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh — who make up a large chunk of residents of slum clusters that had propelled the party to power in 2015 and 2020. The elections made it clear they had gravitated towards the BJP, which, unlike previous elections, won five Purvanchali-dominated seats like the AAP.
Now, months before the Bihar Assembly polls, the Arvind Kejriwal-led party is preparing the ground to make its debut in the state. However, the party, which recently refused to join forces with 16 other INDIA bloc constituents to demand a special session of Parliament and sent a separate letter on the issue to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has decided not to join the grand alliance (Mahagathbandhan) of the RJD, Congress, and the Left.
The AAP is running a “Bihar mein bhi Kejriwal” outreach initiative in the state to mobilise party workers and reach out to voters on the “Delhi development model”. AAP’s Bihar state president Rakesh Yadav is leading the seven-phase yatra that was launched in April and has covered most of the geographical area of the state.
“People from every village in Bihar are in Delhi, and they have seen the development the AAP government brought about in various sectors, from education and health to infrastructure. The AAP has good connections in Purvanchal. Apart from party workers, the general public in Bihar wants us to contest. So we are making preparations for elections and strengthening the organisation in the state,” AAP’s Bihar in-charge Ajesh Yadav told The Indian Express.
Yadav said there were no plans to approach the RJD and Congress for a tie-up. “The AAP has its organisational strength and public following. The local party unit wants to contest the Assembly elections alone. So, we are making preparations for all the 243 seats of Bihar,” he said.
Yadav claimed that the AAP already had an organisational unit in every district and Assembly constituency in the state, and booth-level units would be up and running soon.
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The AAP is also reaching out to Purvanchali voters in Delhi, appealing to them to tell their kin back home about the development that the AAP government ensured in the national capital. The party’s outreach began after the BJP held a series of events across the country on March 22 to mark Bihar Diwas to connect with the migrant Bihari population.
The party is also planning to highlight the Delhi government’s recent demolition drive in the national capital’s Madrasi Camp slum cluster, where several displaced people said they were from UP and Bihar. AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh and Delhi unit chief Saurabh Bharadwaj on Sunday visited the area and said the party would raise the matter in Parliament and stage a dharna in Patna.
The party has also coined a new slogan — “jin logo ne Delhi se Bihariyon ko bhagaya hai, uss BJP ko Bihar se Bihari log bhagayenge (those who displaced Biharis from Delhi, those Biharis will throw the BJP out of Bihar)” — with an eye on its impending entry in Bihar.
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