New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has been at the centre of several alleged scams, with a number of prominent leaders including former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal serving jail terms in the now-scrapped Delhi liquor policy case.
With one eye on erasing the party’s negative image, chief minister Atishi on Sunday launched a crowdfunding campaign to contest next month’s Delhi Assembly election.
Atishi, AAP’s candidate from Kalkaji constituency, hoped that people would support her party’s politics of work and honesty.
Addressing a press conference, Atishi released an online link for people to donate money, saying she needed Rs 40 lakh to fight the election.
“People of Delhi have supported AAP, donated and funded us to contest elections. Smaller donations helped us to fight and win elections. The poorest people in Delhi have supported us with the smallest amount, from Rs 10 to 100. The honest politics of AAP was positive and we did not seek funds from corporates,” Atishi said.
“The big problem is that candidates and parties take funds from big tycoons and then they work for them to pay them back in the form of contracts. The Kejriwal government worked for the common people as they helped us fight,” she added.
“Despite being in power in Delhi for 10 years, the AAP does not have even a rupee of corruption,” Atishi claimed, to counter the BJP’s repeated attacks charging AAP of running a corrupt government in Delhi.
“Perhaps they have collected enough money from their friends and through government contracts and they do not need to collect funds for contesting elections,” Atishi said in a veiled dig at the BJP.
Taking to social media platform X, Atishi made a fervent plea to the voters.
“Over the past 5 years, you’ve stood by me as an MLA, a minister, and now as the Chief Minister of Delhi. None of this would have been possible without your blessings and support. As a young, educated woman, your belief and donations have enabled me to imagine a career in politics — a path I couldn’t have walked alone. Now, as we face another election campaign, I need your support once again,” she wrote.
Former deputy CM Manish Sisodia, who is contesting from Jangpura, launched a similar crowdfunding platform in December, seeking financial support from the public for his poll campaign.
The BJP won three seats in 2015 and eight in 2020 while the Congress drew a blank.
Kejriwal’s ‘demolition’ warning to slum dwellers
Meanwhile, AAP national convener Kejriwal alleged that the BJP would demolish Delhi’s slums in the next five years, rendering slum dwellers homeless.
“The party (BJP) wants your vote first and your land after the elections,” warned Kejriwal, criticising the saffron party’s ‘Jahan Jhuggi Wahan Makaan’ scheme.
“We have seen how their leaders are going to slums and staying there. They didn’t stay for five or ten years, but their leaders have stayed in the slums for the last month. They do not have affection for the slum dwellers. It is a party of rich people. What do they have to do with the slum dwellers?” Kejriwal told newspersons at a slum camp, adding that BJP considers slum dwellers as insects.
All 70 constituencies of Delhi Assembly will go to polls on February 5, and the votes will be counted on February 8.
AAP, eyeing a hat-trick of terms in term in the national Capital, swept to victory with 67 seats in the 2015 polls and 62 in the 2020 election.
