Patna: Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh on Tuesday announced that his party will be throwing its hat in the ring for the Bihar assembly polls, which are due later this year. The Rajya Sabha MP, who is the party's in-charge for Bihar, spoke to reporters in the state capital where he took part in an AAP dharna against the NDA government. Singh was asked about speculations that AAP, which is a force to reckon with in Delhi and Punjab, besides having made its presence felt in Gujarat, was planning to contest the Bihar assembly elections.
Replying in the affirmative, he said, "We will be contesting the polls in Bihar. Details like which seats to fight will be decided by the central leadership in due course." "In Delhi, the BJP government is treating migrants from Bihar and Purvanchal like citizens of an enemy country. They are being rendered homeless as slums are being demolished with a vengeance. We call upon the people of Bihar to vote the BJP out of power in the state," Singh said. Incidentally, the AAP, headed by Arvind Kejriwal, after enjoying two consecutive terms in power in the government in the national capital, suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the BJP in the Delhi assembly polls held earlier this year. The Rajya Sabha MP alleged, "The BJP used to entice Biharis and Purvanchalis living in Delhi, while we were in power, with promises of pucca houses in place of jhuggis (slums). They bared their fangs in the thick of polls when migrant brethren were labelled as Bangladeshis." "I had strongly raised a protest in Parliament. I have come here with the message that betrayal in Delhi cannot go hand in hand with goodwill in Bihar (Dilli mein gaddari aur Bihar mein yaari nahin chalegi)," Singh added. He also urged Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who heads the JD(U), and BJP leaders in Bihar to raise their voice against the alleged mistreatment of migrants in Delhi. It remains to be seen how the entry of AAP affects the poll scenario in Bihar which is likely to witness a straight contest between the NDA and the Mahagathbandhan, the state version of the INDIA bloc of which the Aam Aadmi Party is also a part. Besides AAP, Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj Party will also contest the polls as it threatens to queer the pitch for both NDA and the Mahagathbandhan.