FP News Service
Bhopal
Taking place a year ahead of big clash for Madhya Pradesh assembly polls due in year 2023, local body polls in Madhya Pradesh are attracting political bigwigs.
After AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi who toured Jabalpur and Bhopal for campaigning for civic polls, AAP national convener and the Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will make his presence felt in these keenly contested polls in July first week.
The AAP senior leader will be followed in Madhya Pradesh by other senior leaders as well.
Kejriwal seems buoyed by the recent win in Punjab, will be addressing a public rally in Singrauli on July 2. However this will be only fixture for the Delhi CHief Minister in civic polls.
Atishi Marlena, the AAP Kalkaji MLA from Delhi will be campaigning for party candidates in Bhopal on July 1 while Rajendra Pal Gautam, a Kejriwal minister will be in the state capital on July 3. Senior party leader Sanjay Singh will be in Indore, Ujjain and Burhanpur on July 3 & 4.
Pankaj Singh, the AAP state president said that senior party leaders are visiting the state amid the local body polls. More leaders are expected to come in the next phase after July 4, he added. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s visit is yet not final and Delhi Dy CM Manish Sisodia’s tour is expected to be finalized by tonight, said Singh.
He added that the party has fielded mayoral candidates in 14 municipal corporations while over 2,000 in the fray for post of corporators in the state.
To add, most of the political parties are testing political waters in the state through local body polls so that they could compete for meaningful performance in the 2023 assembly polls.
Both the BJP and Congress party are also fighting these local body polls with utmost somberness which is why Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and MPCC chief Kamal Nath are taking whirlwind tours in the state.
The civic polls are taking place in two phases—July 6 and July 13. The party is planning to field most of the senior leaders ahead of these deadlines. To add, AAP candidates are campaigning for these polls aggressively.
Rani Vishwakarma, the AAP mayor candidate had withdrawn her nomination in Bhopal and the party had pointed fingers at BJP for using coercive measures.
One of the former AAP leaders, Akshay Hunka and former IFS officer Azad Singh Dabas, have joined the party state unit recently.
**eom*8
