Sisodia holds meeting with AAP leaders, discusses Delhi Assembly poll strategy

NEW DELHI: Aadmi Party leader Manish Sisodia will begin a foot march from August 14 to meet the residents of the national capital, the party announced on Sunday after he held a meeting with the AAP top brass to discuss the strategy for the Delhi Assembly polls due early next year.

Senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders including Delhi ministers Atishi, Saurabh Bharadwaj and Gopal Rai, and Rajya Sabha MPs Sanjay Singh and Sandeep Pathak attended the meeting.

Rai is also the convener of the party's Delhi unit.

Pathak, who is also the AAP's national general secretary (organisation), said the strategy for the Delhi Assembly polls and the political situation in the national capital were discussed in the meeting.

"Sisodia will hold a meeting with MLAs on Monday and with party councillors on Tuesday. On August 14, he will begin a foot march to meet the people of Delhi.

"It has become clear to the people of the country that the BJP has only one agenda -- to stop our work and break our party. Despite such adverse conditions, the AAP has stood strong and is doing good work," Pathak said.

He said the AAP is growing in other states and has come out stronger.

Sisodia, the former deputy chief minister of Delhi and a trusted lieutenant of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, walked out of jail on Friday on bail after spending 17 months behind bars in connection with the excise policy case.

While granting him bail, the Supreme Court had sharply rebuked the lower courts, saying his long incarceration without trial had deprived him of the right to speedy justice.

Sisodia's release from Tihar has come as a huge relief for the AAP which is grappling with the absence of its national convener Kejriwal and senior leader Satyendar Jain.

Asked whether Sisodia would be assigned any post in the party or in the government, Pathak said a discussion on this would be held in the coming days.

He also said the AAP's campaign in Haryana, where it has decided to contest all 90 assembly seats, is going well.

Ahead of the meeting, Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said that ever since Sisodia has returned home from jail, there is a lot of enthusiasm among AAP leaders and cadre and the people of Delhi.

"People are visiting the homes of our MLAs and congratulating them, people are distributing laddus in the offices of MLAs," he said.

"I am confident that in the upcoming assembly elections, Delhiites will not give even a single seat to the BJP," the minister said.