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The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday announced that it will contest in the upcoming Nagaland Assembly election scheduled on February 27 once it finds “good candidates” who support the party’s ideologies.
The party’s Northeast in-charge, Rajesh Sharma, told this to journalists during the official launch event of the party in Nagaland here at the state capital on Wednesday.
‘We will be contesting in the ensuing state Assembly election. We are looking for good candidates and welcome those who conform to our ideology’ to contest in the upcoming election, he said.
‘There are a lot of people who want change. So, if ‘good’ people are coming -- the youth and women of Nagaland -- to bring change, the AAP welcome them and will contest in as many seats as possible. As to the number of seats (to contest), we will come to know in a day or two,’ he said.
For the last 75 years since independence, the real issues such as quality education for children, good healthcare, good roads and infrastructure are still unresolved, Sharma observed.
‘Nagaland is facing similar problems today with no development, deep-rooted corruption in the state politics, poor healthcare system and road conditions,’ he said. The consequences of these problems, he claimed, are “scary” and need to be changed.
“The right time has come and people of Nagaland must rise and vote for good governance, honest politics and overall development of the state, and elimination of corruption from politics and the governance,” he stated.
‘The AAP is a small party and has very limited resources to expand to all the states. But when someone from Nagaland approached the party, it decided to start the journey here in Nagaland,’ Sharma said on the party’s entry to the state.
With regard to the Naga political issue, the AAP leader said that the coordination committee (which will be formed soon) will discuss with the people and include it in the agenda.
‘But the main focus of the party remains development in education, healthcare, employment generation and making the state corruption-free; constructing good roads and infrastructure,’ he said.
When asked if Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will visit to Nagaland ahead of the poll, he said the party chief will if there are good candidates and the people of the state want AAP.
The party also appointed former MLA Asu Keyho as the president of AAP Nagaland.
Sharma expressed hope that under his leadership, the party will go to the grassroots of Nagaland and the politics of Nagaland will change in the coming years.
‘We are expecting lots of people to join our party,’ he said.
He also informed that rest of AAP Nagaland executive members will be announced in a day or two and a coordination committee will be formed.
After taking up the new role, Keyho said the AAP is a party with a difference and has delivered what a government should.
He added that AAP will have an open mind and invite every like-minded people willing to uphold the party’s principles -- honesty, corruption-free, and deliverance for the people.
“If there are such people, we welcome them to be a part of the AAP and its endeavour to achieve greater heights and for the betterment of all,” he said.
He further appealed to the people of Nagaland to join the party, saying that it will give ‘a new direction, new vision and new hope for the generations to come’.
The AAP is of the opinion that Nagaland’s annual Hornbill Festival is becoming ‘abominable to our state’.
‘The festival has given a reflection as though Nagas are worshippers of a bird. In the past, Nagas never worshipped or idolised a hornbill,’ Keyho said, adding that the AAP will see to it that the Hornbill Festival is “discarded” if it comes to power.
Maintaining that today’s youth yearn for employment based on merit, he said the party wants to establish a merit-oriented examination system where merit alone is counted. He added that fairness can be ensured in recruitment to the government sector if the assessment pattern of 80% marks from written test, academic excellence 10% and interview/ viva voce 10% is followed.
‘Everyone is looking for opportunity and the present system is not up to the mark, for which many are frustrated. We want to streamline and give direction to the present generation,’ he added.
It may be recalled that the AAP, which was founded by Arvind Kejriwal in 2012, entered Nagaland in 2016 with the launch of its youth wing. It went on to contest in three assembly constituencies in the 2018 state general election but failed to open its account.