AAP’s 2019 strategy

AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal’s decision to stay away from the Varanasi constituency in this General Election appears to be the only coherent aspect of the Aam Aadmi Party’s strategy. Its leader Gopal Rai has made a somersault on partnering with the Congress; from a yes-we-are-willing-to-save-the-country-from-dictatorship to fielding candidates ‘with its full strength’ on all seats across Delhi, Punjab and Haryana. In Punjab, Kejriwal is seeking to provide clarity of purpose to cadres with rallies planned for all the three regions, but the erosion in the base has been significant, again brought about by the Delhi high command and several in the Punjab unit not seeing eye-to-eye on several issues.

In Delhi, too, all is not well after some AAP MLAs sought to push through an Assembly resolution to withdraw Bharat Ratna conferred on former PM Rajiv Gandhi for his alleged role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. The AAP leadership realised its potential to permanently torpedo any move for an understanding with the Congress and distanced itself from the controversy. Clearly the earlier round of squeezing out leaders like Prashant Bhushan, Yogendra Yadav and Dharamvira Gandhi has still not yielded ideological uniformity and unity of purpose. Gopal Rai’s volte-face over an alliance with the Congress, for instance, was catalysed by sharp comments from some of the leaders, bred on virulent anti-Congressism.

AAP’s Punjab show is a pale shadow of the anticipation once generated by its purported evangelist zeal against drugs and corruption. In Delhi, AAP’s impressive win in the Bawana Assembly bypoll does indicate a healthy vein of support but the washout in the Delhi municipal elections demonstrated the fragility of voter preferences. In the new Congress Delhi chief, Sheila Dikshit, AAP is up against a canny politician who has sensed the unease and won’t be averse to weaning away Kejriwal’s rank and file. On the other hand, the BJP will hope for a split in the opposition votes. AAP needs to exorcise its internal demons in order to avoid becoming a plaything for either of the two formations. That will be a far cry from its agenda-setting aspirations in 2014.