Mr. A. Kejriwal’s AAP to declare final plan for Lok Sabha polls tomorrow

New Delhi –  After its stunning debut in Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is all set to go national. The party will announce its first list of candidates for this year’s Lok Sabha elections within two weeks, AAP leader Sanjay Singh told NDTV during a meeting of its national executive today.

The one-year-old party chalked out its plans and strategies to build a national perspective for the general elections at the Delhi’s Constitution Club today. Along with the 23 core members of its national executive, AAP’s representatives from all over the country were at the meeting. They will meet again tomorrow and announce its final strategy for the general elections.

“We will fight the elections from most seats in most states,” AAP leader Prashant Bhushan said, adding names of most candidates will be announced by February 15.

According to sources, along with Delhi, AAP is looking at the states of Haryana, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Gujarat to build a strong support system for the national elections, due by May.

The party reportedly plans to field Mayank Gandhi from Maharashtra and Sanjay Singh from Uttar Pradesh while senior party leader Yogendra Yadav is likely to be its chief ministerial candidate in the assembly elections in Haryana later this year.

AAP leader Kumar Vishwas has already declared that he will contest the Lok Sabha elections against Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi from his constituency in Amethi in Uttar Pradesh. Mr Vishwas earlier this week said he doesn’t just want to take on Mr Gandhi in Amethi, but would also like the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi to join the line-up.

AAP’s Shazia Ilmi however said that her party will field only credible and honest candidates in the elections, even at the cost of not contesting from certain seats.

“We have a four-tier selection process for candidates. We have hired private bodies to do background checks of all candidates. We will not contest from seats where we do not find honest candidates,” said Ms Ilmi, who is also likely to be one of AAP’s big candidates in the elections.

Mr Kejriwal, who took oath as Delhi’s new Chief Minister a week ago at the Ramlila Maidan in Delhi, has urged “honest” people from all spheres and political parties, including Congress and BJP, to join his party in its ‘fight against corruption’.