The Aam Aadmi Party's candidate for the Mumbai North West constituency Mayank Gandhi, who is set to take on senior MP Gurudas Kamat, was detained by the Mumbai police last week for protesting after NCP members attacked the AAP office in suburban Mumbai. Back on the campaign trail, Gandhi says the Maharashtra unit of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), considered the strongest after Delhi, is ready with what they believe is a foolproof strategy for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The gameplan includes targeting all political parties with a series of exposes of scams, extensive campaigning using various methods taking cue from the Delhi Assembly elections and conducting frequent internal assessment programmes.
AAP candidate from Mumbai North-West Mayank Gandhi
What will AAP's campaign strategy be like in Maharashtra for the coming Lok Sabha elections?
There are four ways to do extensive campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections. One is that we are making complete structures from Assembly coordinators, ward coordinators and polling booth-wise teams consisting of 2-3 people. These people will do the door to door campaigning. Further, we are forging alliances with various groups such as social groups, religious groups, rikshawallahs, taxiwallahs and others. Third, we will hold Jan Sabhas, at least one every day. Fourth, we will be doing a "buzz" campaign. The buzz campaign is where youngsters take to streets. They will be dancing, giving leaflets and doing the jhadu yatra.
AAP candidate from Nagpur Anjali Damania has had a press conference for an expose on BJP leader Nitin Gadkari. Do you have any such plan regarding MP Gurudas Kamat?
Many people in the constituency have told me that nobody has seen Kamat in the last five years. Interestingly, he has not asked a single question in Parliament in the last two years. The entire constituency is in a mess. What kind of MP is he? Despite having the funds, poor people are suffering due to non-utilisation of funds.
In the last month, AAP leaders have said that BJP is the party's main rival. But in case of Mumbai, all six sitting MPs are from the Congress-NCP. What is AAP's strategy to counter them?
There is a lot of disgust in the public against all the sitting MPs in Mumbai. They have not done any work. Wherever we go, people are telling us that they have not seen their MP in the last five years. The huge anti-incumbency factor against the Congress and NCP will help us in a big way.
Mumbai is also the stronghold of the Shiv Sena. How will you counter traditional Marathi voters?
It is one of the 5-6 established political parties. It has done nothing. These political parities, ruling and opposition, are hand in glove in Maharashtra and are equally involved in corruption cases. It is evident from the Adarsh scam and irrigation scam in which all parties are involved. Now, people are sick and tired of these political parties. We want to give an alternative to these established political parties, which is why many people are choosing AAP over them.
What city-centric issues will AAP take up?
We are taking up various issues which include slum housing, electricity tariff, housing and water. We are preparing policies on these issues and the research work is going on. Recently, we held a seminar on a few issues. We will expose how malpractices are taking place in these sectors, how the money is being looted and what our plan is to address these issues. Just now, we exposed an electricity scam. Similarly, we will soon take up other issues.
Delhi assembly election was the AAP's first electoral contest. But will campaigning for the Lok Sabha election be different?
Around 1000 people from Mumbai had gone for campaigning for the Delhi assembly elections and I was part of it. All of us are now seasoned in the campaigning and election related works, which will be an advantage for us in Maharashtra. We are well aware what helped us and what went wrong in the Delhi elections and have learnt many things. The buzz campaign and the SMS campaign were a hit there. We will focus on both these campaigns in Maharashtra as well. Apart from that, we will also start a calling system, used in Delhi elections, in all constituencies. AAP activists and people from across the nation will call voters requesting them to vote for AAP candidates. In Delhi, we were making at least 5,000 calls in a day.
How many seats will AAP win in Maharashtra? Is AAP doing any internal assessment to know the number seats it will win?
Other political parties underestimate us and we are happy being underestimated by them. We don't make tall claims like they do. It will be pre-mature to say how many seats we will win. But, we will do the best efforts that we can do. Recently, we have done an internal assessment for Mumbai North West constituency and it is very positive. A similar exercise will be done for other constituencies also and it will not be once but multiple times.
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