Ever since Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) formed government in Delhi the common man, businessman, NGOs and even cobblers too are keen to join the party. AAP party activists are appealing to the people to join the party and have started registering new members by erecting stalls outside railway stations and many other public places. Many persons registered their names at Bandra railway station where new member registrations were held. Even the online registration too is picking at a faster pace. AAP has claimed that the enrolment of new members in the party has increased tenfold. Donations are pouring in and volunteers are lining up to join the party.
Today people are already fed up with rising corruption and inflation which is surging day by day and they are desperately seeking for a change in governance. People are upset with the ruling party as they have been running the government in an old-fashioned manner where decisions are taken by few leaders through closed-door meetings.
Preeti Sharma Menon, Secretary of Aam Aadmi Party, Maharashtra said, “Everyone is joining our party irrespective of their financial background. Recently the shoe the cobbler’s association had joined our party. We have erected stall and are inviting people to join AAP.”
Shirish Ashiyani, a student of Thodamal Engineering College, Bandra said, “I am really impressed with the mode of functioning adopted by the Aam Aadmi party. Hence I am joining them with an aim to eliminate corruption from the society.”
The manner in which things are changing only goes to show that people wouldn’t take bad governance any longer. Arvind Kejriwal’s popularity too has risen after his party formed government at Delhi. People appreciated the decision taken by him to lower electricity tariffs and provide drinking water. This now poses an immediate challenge to mainstream parties in the upcoming Lok sabha elections. Congress and BJP are already watching the governance model followed by AAP and they too are trying to emulate it. The UPA government had hurriedly passed the Lokpal bill in an attempt to project that it is serious about fighting corruption prevalent in the country.
Taranum Qureshi, a student of Rizvi College, Bandra said, “AAP is doing a good job hence I want to become its member so that I can work for the welfare of the common man.”
Satyawan Mandawkar a student from St Andrew College, Bandra said, “It’s good to see that AAP is inviting the common man to join the party. I believe that the common man should join this party as it works for their welfare.”
Sunil Yadav, a shopkeeper from Bandra said, “Many parties have been functioning in Mumbai for so many years however they failed to provide good governance. I am joining AAP as I expect that it will transform the society.”
Many prominent faces like ex-Infosys board member V Balakrishnan, Remo Fernandes, Samir Nair and Pawan Munjal have joined the AAP. Party worker, Dilip, said, “We got Rs 50 lakh per day after December 8.”
Most of the new faces have quit their jobs to join the party. Former Royal Bank of Scotland executive Meera Sanyal has also joined the AAP and has offered to contest from the Mumbai South Constituency in the 2014 Lok Sabha Polls.
Sukhdev Patel, Convener of AAP asserted, “Our membership has increased manifold.”
Party worker, Kiran Shaw said, “Professionals are getting more and more interested in pursuing political career and AAP has obviously offered them a very interesting platform for doing that.”
