In a surprise move, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which was expected to give a tough fight to Congress and the BJP in the local civic elections, has decided to stay away.

Its party leaders said they were unhappy with the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) restructuring plan and expect a mid-term elections soon.

“We (AAP) feel BBMP elections being conducted now is meaningless and farcical. It is a just wasteful expenditure of public money,” Prithvi Reddy, National Executive member, AAP told Business Line .

In view of the policy flip-flops of the ruling Congress government, AAP has decided to concentrate on people-centric issues rather than electioneering, Reddy said.

“The BJP, which was responsible for the corruption and misgovernance of BBMP in the last five years, is now colluding with the Congress,” he alleged.

After testing the waters during the Lok Sabha elections last year, AAP has been steadfastly building its cadre at the ward level.

“Mainly driven by volunteers, we met and interacted with thousands of residents of Bengaluru from various walks of life, through ‘jana sabhas’, surveys etc in order to draw up an action plan,” said Reddy.

“Now once the dust settles down, we will be initiating various civic awareness issues and prepare the ground to fight the next round of polls,” he added.

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