The AAP, Congress and the BJP are gearing up to intensify their political activities in Delhi, where Assembly elections are due in early 2025, even as they battle it out in the run-up to the elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand.

After AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal started the second phase of his padyatra in Delhi on Sunday, the Congress announced its Delhi Nyay Yatra in all 70 constituencies from Friday.

The party high command, including president Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal, has been invited to lead the yatra.

Delhi Congress chief Devender Yadav told reporters: “The Delhi Nyay Yatra will set the agenda for the Congress’s return to power in the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections…. The BJP and the AAP have conspired to turn the clock back on Delhi’s development with their constant bickering.”

Kejriwal’s padyatras have focussed on the BJP’s attempts to allegedly throw a spanner in the capital’s governance through undue interference by the lieutenant governor.

In October, the AAP lashed out at the BJP after Kejriwal was heckled during a padyatra in Vikaspuri over unclean tap water. Air and water pollution have peaked here over the past fortnight.

Speaking about the second phase of the padyatra, AAP parliamentary party chairman Sanjay Singh told reporters: “The BJP tried to disrupt Arvind Kejriwal’s padyatra because of the support he was receiving…. Since they cannot win elections against Arvind Kejriwal’s politics of work, they resort to violence in an attempt to hinder his padyatra.”

He added: “The padyatras will continue throughout November and December in various constituencies. The aim is to reach every person and inform them about how the BJP is obstructing Delhi’s progress through conspiracies, and to highlight the work that Arvind Kejriwal has done for the people of Delhi over the past 10 years.”

The BJP has also planned a Parivartan Yatra series from mid-November. In a meeting of the party’s top national and Delhi-unit leaders in Ranthambhore in September, the BJP decided that its seven MPs would lead the yatras in the Assembly segments in their seats.