New Delhi/ Patna: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will contest all 243 seats in the upcoming Bihar assembly elections, opting to go solo without forging any alliances, senior leader Saurabh Bhardwaj announced on Wednesday.
Speaking to reporters in Delhi, the former Delhi minister made it clear that the party would not align with any bloc, including the INDIA alliance. “AAP will fight independently in Bihar. We will field candidates on all seats and go to the people with our own model,” Bhardwaj said, marking the party’s formal entry into the state’s volatile political landscape.
The move comes amid heightened political activity in Bihar, with both the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and Mahagathbandhan sharpening their electoral strategies. Political strategist-turned-activist Prashant Kishor is also actively mobilising support, potentially complicating the electoral arithmetic further.
Explaining the decision to go solo, Bhardwaj cited past alliance failures, pointing to the Gujarat by-elections where, he claimed, the Congress fielded a candidate on a seat previously held by AAP, despite an informal understanding. “We honoured the alliance spirit by not contesting Congress-held seats, but they didn’t reciprocate. This experience has guided our approach in Bihar,” he said, indicating a lack of trust in alliance partners.
In a sharp political attack, Bhardwaj also accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of targeting migrants from Bihar in Delhi. “Bihari workers are being denied jobs, their jhuggis are bulldozed. It feels like they are being driven out of Delhi,” he said. “If BJP can chase Biharis out of Delhi, then Bihar can chase the BJP out of power.”
