Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia
New Delhi: As the AAP seeks to expand its base in the country, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Thursday said that the formation of an opposition front “would not be enough to take on the BJP, calling on the people to rise up against the saffron party.
“(Formation of) A front would not be enough. There is a need for the people to rise,” the senior AAP leader said addressing a press conference here.
Sisodia’s remarks came in response to a question on his party’s stand on the efforts being made to form a united front of opposition parties against the BJP.
People have now begun to understand the BJP’s methods with the way it manages to win elections by diverting their attention from the main issues but does not do anything for the masses after forming its government, he said.
“That’s why people are now reposing their faith in Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s model of governance…The people of the country are now rising against the BJP,” he added.
Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin, who is among those opposition leaders pitching for formation of a united front of opposition parties, had recently called on Kejriwal during his visit to the national capital.
Later, in an exclusive interview to PTI, the DMK chief called for a united front of the Congress, the Left and all state parties, opposed to the BJP, to take on the ruling dispensation at the Centre, saying everyone must put aside their individual political mindsets and “come together to save India”.
Sisodia said the Kejriwal’s model of governance has caught the attention of the people across the country as it is being replicated in Punjab also after formation of the AAP government in the state.
The BJP is now “scared” because people want to give “one chance to Kejriwal” in the states where elections are to be held, he claimed.
“You saw what a tremendous response Kejriwal received from the people when he visited Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat recently,” he added.
Buoyed by its landslide victory in Punjab, the AAP has reorganised its units in several states, appointing key office bearers to drive its national expansion plan.
Though the party’s immediate focus is on the upcoming assembly polls in the BJP-ruled Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh this year, it has started membership drives in several other states, including Karnataka, Telangana and Chhattisgarh with an eye on assembly elections to be held next year.
