Buoyed by Sisodia's release from prison, the AAP is stepping up its preparations for the 2025 Delhi elections

New Delhi, Aug 18 (PTI) – Buoyed by the release of senior politician Manish Sisodia from jail after 17 months, the AAP has intensified its preparations for next year's Delhi assembly elections and is organising workers' meetings in every constituency to plan the campaign.

Former Delhi deputy chief minister Sisodia has been holding meet-and-greet rallies in the capital since August 16 as part of AAP's electoral strategy, with the aim of covering all 70 constituencies in the city.

In a statement, the ruling party in Delhi said that in addition to Sisodia's “Padyatra”, work was also being done to strengthen the organisation.

Sisodia had worked out a strategy for the parliamentary elections in talks with party officials, it said.

Sisodia, a confidant of Prime Minister Arvind Kejriwal, was released on bail on August 9 after spending 17 months behind bars in connection with the excise policy issue.

His removal from the Tihar House comes as a huge relief to the party, which is currently grappling with the absence of its national president and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and its senior party leader Satyender Jain.

Sandeep Pathak, national general secretary of AAP (organisation) and Rajya Sabha MP, said the party was conducting several campaigns in Delhi for next year's elections and many more would be launched in the coming days.

Aam Aadmi Party workers' conferences would be organised in all parliamentary seats where local MPs would present their reports of their four-and-a-half-year work to the public, he said.

So far, conferences have been organised in 18 legislative assembly constituencies with the participation of local MPs and state vice presidents, Pathak added.

He said the AAP leadership would attend the workers' conference to be held in Chhatarpur on Monday.

“We go to every constituency and interact with the people. We inform them about our work over the last four and a half years. We communicate directly with the public. Polling stations are also being set up at the constituency level,” Pathak said.

Sisodia said, “We have come to do politics through work. Ever since I came out of jail, I have been meeting people all the time. I visit schools to meet children and perform padyatras across Delhi.” Delhi AAP leader Gopal Rai announced the launch of an “Auto Samvad” campaign on Saturday.

Stressing that Chief Minister Kejriwal was very concerned about the welfare of autorickshaw drivers in the city, he said the state conference of the autorickshaw wing of the party would begin on August 20.

This campaign will be led by a 14-member committee, he said.

“I request the autorickshaw drivers of Delhi to raise their voice against the BJP. If you (people) remain silent during the elections and the Kejriwal government is voted out, you will have to pay double the price for free electricity, water, schools and hospitals,” said Rai, a minister in the AAP government.

He said Kejriwal had sent a message from jail suggesting all the party office-bearers to hold an 'Auto Samvad' across Delhi and list the works of the AAP government.

“Arvind Kejriwal has said, 'Till I am in jail, all our auto-wala brothers will together be my representatives and communicate with the people at the auto-rickshaw stands and convey the truth to them,'” Rai added.

Arvind Kejriwal, who is also the national president of AAP, was arrested by the ED on March 21 in a money laundering case related to the alleged excise policy scam. The Supreme Court has granted him interim bail but he is still in jail as the CBI has arrested him in a related matter. PTI SLB NSD NSD