Chandigarh :
Is Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal eyeing the Chief Minister’s post in Haryana after the 2019 Assembly poll in the state?

From the way AAP has planned to launch the second phase of its “Haryana Jodo Campaign” — by installing flex hoardings with the message “Main aur mera parivaar, AAP ke saath” on 2 lakh households in the state — from September 5 and also going by the interest shown by Kejriwal in Haryana affairs in the past, political observers believe that Kejriwal has some bigger plans in mind than merely preparing the party for the parliamentary poll.

 After his meeting with AAP’s incharge for Haryana affairs Gopal Rai, co-incharge Ajesh Yadav, state convener of the party Naveen Jaihind and party functionaries from across the state on Sunday, Kejriwal has decided to launch the second phase of the party’s “Haryana Jodo Campaign” in a big way.

Sources said that Kejriwal told AAP workers from the state that the party would contest all 10 Lok Sabha and 90 Vidhan Sabha seats and would not enter into an alliance with any political party.

After this meeting, Kejriwal also addressed a rally at Pehowa in Kurukshetra on Sunday evening.

In the first phase of the campaign in July-August, AAP claims to have appointed conveners in all 9,500 polling booths in the state.

Kejriwal hails from Siwani town of Haryana and his early education is also from the state.

When he was to choose three names for nominations to the Rajya Sabha from AAP from Delhi, Kejriwal selected two out of three from Haryana lineage.

Besides his trusted lieutenant Sanjay Singh, Kejriwal picked Sushil Gupta, an educationist, and ND Gupta, a chartered accountant, from Haryana, giving rise to speculation about his future plans with regard to the state.

Ahead of 2017 Assembly poll in Punjab, Kejriwal had landed into a controversy by saying that Punjab had no waters to share with Haryana.

His statement had invited the wrath of the people in Haryana.

However, the Delhi CM took a U-turn when addressing the “Bhaichara Kawar Yatra” at Rohtak last month. He said justice should be done to both Haryana and Punjab in the matter of SYL waters.

When contacted, Jaihind said that at present, the issue of CM was not on the mind of AAP senior leaders.

Asked who is going to foot the bill of 2 lakh hoardings, Jaihind said that these are small 2 ft by 3 ft flex boards costing barely Rs15 each and the funds would be collected through contribution.