Karnataka Assembly Election 2023: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will contest elections on all 224 assembly seats in Karnataka for the first time. The party has already announced 140 candidates. Of the 29 seats the party contested in the last assembly election, 18 were in Bengaluru and 11 in other parts of the state. However, the deposits of AAP candidates were forfeited on all the seats. Meanwhile, AAP’s state convenor Prithvi Reddy also talked about the party’s roadmap and preparations for the assembly elections.
"Karnataka your gateway to South India"
On the question of contesting elections on all the seats in Karnataka, Prithvi Reddy said that this would be the biggest state ever contested by AAP. This is the first time that 224 candidates of AAP are contesting elections in one state. This is a milestone and a historic step in our political journey. For AAP, Karnataka is the gateway to South India and the result is important. We want to break our label as an ‘urban political party’ and reach out to the rural areas of the state.
What are the criteria for the selection of the candidates?
On the criteria for selection of candidates in the election, Prithvi Reddy said that we have released the names of 140 candidates, including 11 women, 21 postgraduates, 9 doctors, 10 engineers, 14 farmers, 16 advocates and 6 MBA graduates. Our only criteria for selecting candidates was their efficiency and past history of involvement in social service. We have not fielded candidates on the basis of religion, caste or other things, he said. For example, we have fielded a Hindu candidate in Shivajinagar, which is considered a Muslim seat. We want to break this series and bring a new dimension to politics in Karnataka.
Will the arrest of Manish Sisodia have an effect?
AAP is in trouble due to the arrest of Manish Sisodia in Delhi. In such a situation, how will we run a successful campaign in Karnataka? On this, he said that the arrest of Manish Sisodia is politically motivated and it will not affect us. You Arvind Kejriwal, CM of Punjab Bhagwant Mann, Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, MP Raghav Chadha will be seen campaigning in the state. We are going to travel across the state and tell voters what work we have done in Delhi and Punjab.
What if you don’t have a big face?
On the question of AAP not having any big face in Karnataka, Prithvi Reddy said that we are looking at our principles and not personalities. Once the results are out, the personality will naturally evolve. All the 224 candidates of our party will be the candidates for the post of Chief Minister. We’ll leave it up to the people to choose.
"If elected we will fulfill all the promises"
Reddy said that we have a record of fulfilling promises in elections. Whatever is there in the manifestos of Congress, BJP and JD(S) is a copy of the promises of AAP in Delhi and Punjab. We have already announced 10 guarantees, including 300 units of free electricity, 80 per cent reservation for locals in jobs and filling up all vacant posts in the state. If elected, we will fulfill these, as we did in Delhi and Punjab.
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