The Aam Aadmi Party and the Twenty20 Party on Sunday announced the formation of the People’s Welfare Alliance in Kerala.

The Twenty20 Party is a corporate social responsibility initiative of garment manufacturing firm Kitex Group. It is headed by Sabu M John, the managing director of the group.

“This is an alliance of the 4 crore people of Kerala,” AAP convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said. The two parties announced the alliance at Kizhakkambalam, a suburb of Kochi city which is the headquarters of the Twenty20 Party.

Kejriwal said that the residents of Kerala had two options before them – “political parties which indulge in criminal activities and riots or honest parties such as AAP and Twenty20, which work for the welfare of the people”.

AAP brought change to Delhi, after which voters in Punjab also gave it a chance, Kejriwal said. “Now, we will bring change to Kerala,” he added.

Kejriwal praised John, saying that he is a big industrialist, but decided to work in a small panchayat. “He [John] is a businessman, but he says that he will build roads in a panchayat and give houses to the poor,” he said. “...It is our objective to bring together all the good people in the country.”

The Twenty20 party chief said that plenty of political violence has taken place under the Pinarayi Vijayan-led government in Kerala, Onmanorama reported.

“During the first Pinarayi government’s term, nearly 32 (political) murders took place,” he said. “During the first year of his second term, 11 political murders have taken place. In the past four months, seven were murdered, including our Deepu.”

CK Deepu, a worker of the Twenty20 Party, died in February after he was allegedly beaten up by members of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

John also alleged that the state government’s debts were increasing and that if such a situation persists, the state’s condition would become worse than Sri Lanka.

In March, the AAP won a landslide victory in the Punjab Assembly elections, winning 92 out of 117 seats. Since then, it has been making efforts to expand its national footprint.

The Twenty20 Party currently rules four panchayats in Kerala’s Ernakulam district.