He may be the party's potential chief ministerial candidate in the state of Haryana when the state goes to the polls in October, but that's the last thing on Yogendra Yadav's mind as he prepares the party for its campaign there.
After the party's unbelievable performance in neighbouring Delhi, Haryana was expected to be the next target of the party given the many allegations of corruption in the state, the key campaign issue for the Aam Aadmi Party.
"There is corruption everywhere in this state. Be it land allocation for industry, agriculture, or a mere government job, everything is affected by a systematic corruption," Yogendra Yadav, the AAP's chief ideologue, said.
According to Yadav, the AAP's victory in Delhi had laid the foundation for the party in the neighbouring state. Yadav, who hails from Rewari in Haryana himself, believes they have already identified the main areas of corruption in the state.
Representational image. Reuters
"One big corruption issue is the nexus of corrupt bureaucrats and political leaders to rig the process of recruiting government employees. The politicians and there relatives are earning in crores by rigging the recruitment system,"Yadav said.
The allegations of land scams in the state are also expected to be a key issue that the party will be focussing on.
But beyond its pet issue of corruption the party believes that there are enough social and economic issues affecting the people of the state on which they can build their campaign on.
"One of our primary concerns is to address the plight of the farmers. Farmers in Haryana are earning way less than the minimum support price and precious little has been done by the government to relieve the farmers," Rajeev Godhara, the sate convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party, said.
However, while the leaders of the party sound confident of connecting with the electorate in the state and beating the Congress government, activists in rural areas of Haryana say the issues that affect voters are very different from those that affect the residents of urban centres like Delhi.
"The major issue in these parts of Haryana is the issue of caste. The party has to reach out the Dalits in the state and address their plight," Vinit Aggarwal, a lawyer, said.
Aggarwal was one of many who attended a programme conducted by AAP leader Yogendra Yadav to recruit volunteers to work for the party and his views find resonance among members of the Dalit community.
"I want them to talk about the problems I face everyday," Harinder Kumar, a member of the Dality community, said.
"We cannot build toilets for ourselves because we live in land that belongs to Jats. Our women are still facing the worst everyday," he said.
The AAP has already declared that it will not address any community specifically.
"We want to take up issues which resonates with all classes in the society and not caste politics," Praveen Singh, who is overseeing the party's campaign in Haryana along with Yadav, said.
Whether the party's approach is viable is in doubt given that the state, according to the 2011 census, has almost 2.5 crore people who belong to the Dalit community and would be an important constituency for the AAP to gain the support of.
A key constituency the party is focussing on is that of women, who barely come out in support of political movements or parties in the state and Yadav is already taking steps to ensure that this changes.
"It's my request to our supporters, please include your female family members in the rallies and campaigns," Yadav said, addressing a rally.
Even though Haryana presents a completely different political landscape when compared to Delhi, if the reception of the people is anything to go by, the AAP may just the contender to watch out for in the October elections.
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