The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) started a 200-km Jan Adhikar Yatra in western UP from Saharanpur on Wednesday to mobilise voters before the parliamentary election of 2019.
Led by senior party leader and MP Sanjay Singh, the yatra will conclude in Noida on September 8, after covering different districts of Meerut and Saharanpur divisions. Singh will lead the Yatra till its culmination in Noida.
The yatra will reach Thanabhawan of Shamli district on Thursday, Muzaffarnagar on August 31, Baghpat on September 2, Meerut on September 3, Ghaziabad on September 6 and Noida on September 8.
The AAP is trying to build its vote bank in western UP in view of the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. The party has already declared to contest about 100 seats.
After tasting success in Punjab, AAP has been trying to increase its base in the states close to Delhi.
For the past some time, party leaders have also been highlighting issues related to western UP.
AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal has also tried to raise issues related to Dalits here. He is in good terms with jailed Bheem Army chief Chandrashekher whose organisation has a considerable influence on Dalits in Saharanpur area.
Also, the party now aims to raise issues related to people here on its own.
“Seventeen issues are on our list that would be raised during this yatra,” AAP’s Western UP chief Somendra Dhaka said, adding that the prominent among them were payment of sugarcane dues to farmers, a High Court bench in Western UP, regularisation of Shiksha Mitras, and cleaning of highly polluted Hindon river. “Though the Yatra has just started, people are giving us an overwhelming response,” he claimed.