New Delhi: AAP wants to capitalise on its ‘Delhi model' in the next five years and spread itself nationally, with a focus on Punjab, senior party leader Ashutosh today said.
The party is treating Punjab, where Assembly elections are due in 2017, as a “breakthrough” state by putting in considerable political will.
“In the coming five years we will develop an alternate model of politics and governance in Delhi. Punjab is definitely a breakthrough state. But first Delhi has to be developed as a model,” he said, on the sidelines of the release of his book “Mukhota ka Rajdharma” at the Delhi World Book Fair here.
AAP had won four seats in Punjab in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, even as it faced a rout in other states including Delhi, where it drew a blank.
Ashutosh said the book, a compilation of his articles that have appeared in newspapers over the years, was a “running commentary on political and societal change of the last ten years”.
Throwing light on the book, he said, “I felt India was changing but politics was not, resulting in intermittent conflicts. That is what I have tried to bring out through my writings.”
The party's Delhi Convener also said that his tweet, where he termed himself a “misfit” in politics earlier in the day, has been “misinterpreted”.
“Although I consider myself to be a misfit in Indian politics I want to make it clear that I am here to stay. I was just pointing out that people can't afford to be honest in politics,” he said.
On being asked about AAP's stupendous victory in the Assembly polls, he said that the party had decided to pull out all stops in fighting the elections in a meeting on May 17, a day after suffering the Lok Sabha debacle.
“There was a time when people shut doors on Arvind Kejriwal's face during the campaigning period. Even the security guard of his apartment took a dig at him saying ‘chala tha PM banne',” he said.
