Gujarat Elections, AAP Trying To Take On BJP Through ‘Panna Parivar Pramukh’
Ahmedabad, 14th August 2022: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) began revamping its organizational structure in Gujarat in June after dissolving the erstwhile units of the party. This exercise has taken the party to the village level.
Although the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is new to the electoral politics of Gujarat, it is making every effort to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the upcoming assembly elections by strengthening the party organization up to the village level and organizing its workers.
A senior AAP leader said the Arvind Kejriwal-led party would organize the grassroots organization through ‘Panna Parivar Pramukhs’ and village committees to take on the BJP in the state assembly elections due later this year. Each of these is constituted of 50 workers. The AAP began revamping its organizational structure in Gujarat in June after dissolving the erstwhile units of the party. This exercise took the party to the village level.
Trying to counter the ‘Panna Pramukh’ model
AAP’s national joint general secretary Isudan Gadhvi said the next step would be to adjust the page or a page of the voter list by appointing the Panna Parivar Pramukh. AAP is trying to counter the ‘Panna Pramukh’ model of BJP workers at the booth level by appointing ‘Panna Parivar Pramukh’. The Panna Parivar Pramukh will have an in-charge of each page of the electoral roll and will be the members of the ‘AAP Parivar’, who will vote for the party.
Gadhvi said AAP is focusing on micro-management and door-to-door campaigning to woo voters in the state. The BJP has been in power in the state for more than two decades. He claimed that other parties believe in the caste equation, we believe in the public equation.
BJP workers disillusioned with leadership
The AAP leader claimed that BJP workers were disenchanted with his leadership and that his party could use his perceived sense of disillusionment. He said that the BJP has had a strong organization, no doubt about it, but we believe it has become a thing of the past as BJP workers are also fed up with the party. They have understood that top BJP leaders reap all the benefits. When it comes to workers, they (leaders) deny them those benefits by saying ‘free reward’.
AAP has campaigned for the party in villages of Gujarat with the aim of increasing its base in the state. As far as AAP is concerned, we have so far formed committees in 16,000 out of 18,000 villages in the state, he said. They have 6,000 committees at the ward level.
Responsibility to look after a cluster of 5 villages each
AAP’s national joint general secretary said that at the village level, the party has announced the names of office bearers and each of them has been given the responsibility of looking after the cluster of five villages.
Gadhvi said these leaders have formed committees in 16,000 villages. There is a committee of 10-50 workers in each village. By August 15, we will form a village committee in each of the 18,000 villages in the state. We will have over 1.5 lakh dedicated AAP workers at the village level.
Committees will be formed at village level
Gadhvi is a news anchor who joined AAP in June last year. He said that as soon as committees are formed at the village level, the party will start the work of appointing Panna Parivar Pramukhs. Gadhvi claimed that this would be done by September 15, by then we will leave the BJP behind (in terms of organizational strength).
He said that till now, the party has formed state and district bodies and divided an assembly constituency into four blocks. He said that each block has an organizational secretary. He said that 12-55 circle in-charge would work under a secretary. Gujarat has 182 assembly seats.
Gadhvi emphasized that Congress is no longer an option for voters in Gujarat, where Congress has been out of power for more than 20 years. Gadhvi said that in the February 2021 local body elections, AAP got a significant chunk of votes in Ahmedabad, Rajkot and Surat, then it did not have a wide support base or organizational strength. He said that people are looking for an alternative in the state.
