AAP to field Gandhi's grandson against Modi, Shazia Ilmi against Sonia?

Even as the Aam Aadmi Party drafts its Lok Sabha strategy and begins to draw up lists of candidates, it appears that the party is hoping to field high-profile candidates against two of the biggest names in Indian politics.

According to an Economic Times report, there is speculation that the party could field Gopalkrishna Gandhi, former governor of West Bengal and also grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, against the BJP’s prime ministerial nominee candidate Narendra Modi. The report also says that the party wants to field Shazia Ilmi, former journalist and a key face of the AAP, against Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

However Gopalkrishna Gandhi told ET he had no plans of joining AAP or contesting elections, though he holds in high esteem the ideals of the AAP. Ilmi too said that she has not yet decided on fighting elections.

Ilmi contested the Delhi Assembly elections from the RK Puram constituency and lost by a very slender margin of about 300 votes.

AAP had put out a list of 30 ‘corrupt’ candidates against whom it wants to field some major players. The list includes Narendra Modi, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Nitin Gadkari, Kapil Sibal, to name a few.

AAP had also told Firstpost that the second list it would release would include names of candidates set to take on 78 Lok Sabha MPs who are facing serious criminal charges. The third list will target those who are from dynastic political families, AAP has said.

The first list of candidates is expected to be out by the end of February.