Aam admi caught in tug-of-war

Arvind Kejriwal named his new political outfit the Aam Admi Party at a meeting yesterday. The Congress objected to the name saying ‘aam aadmi' was its plank.

u00a0"Activist Mayank Gandhi and Chandramohan have proposed the name of the party," said the member, on condition of anonymity.

Arvind Kejriwal has invited people to attend the launch of the party on November 26 on Twitter. File pic

"Aam aadmi will contest elections, aam aadmi will vote and aam admi will go to parliament. This party will change the way politics and political parties functions in India," Kejriwal said, adding that he had received 80 to 90 mobile messages daily suggesting the party's name. "The name is empowering the common man," he said.

For the past one-and-half years, Kejriwal had been knocking the doors of various parties on the Lokpal Bill. "But every political party betrayed us. So we decided during the fast in August that this movement will take a political plunge and as a result, the party has been launched," Kejriwal.

The Congress objected to the name, saying the slogan of ‘aam aadmi' has always been linked to it. Manish Tewari, I&B Minister, said, "Since 1885, the slogan has been synonymous with the Congress. Nobody can hijack the intrinsic relation that it carries."

u00a0Through tweets, Kejriwal stated that he was a common man and would bring ‘swaraj', ‘poorn azadi' (complete independence), control price rise and implement Jan Lokpal.