Team Kejriwal finally names its party: It’s ‘AAP’ versus the rest

Shedding the India Against Corruption tag, Arvind Kejriwal finally announced the name of his political party on Saturday. It will be called the 'Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)'.

It was also announced that AAP would have an internal 'Lokpal' and 'Lokayukta' to probe allegations against its members. The party, first announced on October 2, will fight the Assembly elections in Delhi next year and has incorporated a right to recall provision in its constitution.

Outlining the party's goals, Kejriwal said: "The party's vision is 'swaraj'. People should get the 'raj'. The national executive will have 30 members, of which 23 were selected today. We will take positions based on the reports submitted by expert committees on various issues and subsequent public debates."

Women and youth will play an important role in the party, Kejriwal said. In reply to a question, he said should the Lok Sabha elections happen in 2014, his party would field candidates on all the seats and with more than 33 per cent of the seats reserved for women.

Rejecting panchayats as "corrupt", Kejriwal said AAP's swaraj model believes the gram sabha in villages and mohalla sabha in cities should have a say in all major legislations. Trying to assert AAP's right to the 'aam aadmi' tag, so far appropriated by the Congress, he added: "Common men, women, children have formed their party. They are not politicians. They are fed up of politicians, of corruption and price rise. This is why the common man has decided to challenge politicians and the political system. Now the common man will sit in Parliament."

Political commentator-turned-politician Yogendra Yadav added: "Words like Bharatiya, janata etc cannot be somebody's copyright. This party was the logical conclusion of a unique movement and we are starting with a big burden of expectations."

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