AAP battles to save its last bastion
Across India, all eyes are now on Punjab- the last bastion of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) after its defeat in the Delhi Assembly poll and the new battleground that the BJP wants to conquer.
In Punjab, two political scenarios are seemingly at play. One, where AAP is ready to ride the anti-corruption narrative once again to keep its cadre intact and keep the buzz alive about its “sincere intentions” on giving a corruption-free administration by acting against corrupt officers/officials.
The second political scenario, which is still playing behind the scenes, is the renewed and serious effort on part of the BJP to make an entry into the rural areas of Punjab. For nearly four and a half years, the BJP has failed to get into the heart of Punjab dominated by Jat peasantry. The Lok Sabha elections last year gave the BJP a glimmer of hope when it won over 18 per cent vote share, but that has ebbed in several polls since. That’s one reason the party is redoubling its efforts to engage with protesting farm unions.
The second round of meetings between the Centre and the agitating farmers started on February 14. Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who from his days as Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister is considered a more amenable person within the BJP, was brought in to negotiate with the two unions protesting at the Shambhu and Khanauri borders. The Centre’s assertions on continuing with the minimum support price on crops, with increases in consonance with rise in input costs, may help neutralise the state’s rural population, which has been shunning the BJP since 2020, when the three farm laws were first introduced, and subsequently revoked a year later.
Are these talks with farmers a wedge to restart talks with its former ally, the Shiromani Akali Dal? Though the BJP and SAD leaders continue to deny talks of their realignment, the marriage ceremony of former Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal’s elder daughter saw all factions of Punjab unit of the BJP in attendance at Chandigarh.
Interestingly, February 14 is also an important date in AAP’s calendar. It is on this day that the party (re)launched its anti-corruption campaign. The loss of Delhi is forcing the party to return to its old formula, which first drew Punjab’s voters to the party in 2013. It’s been a bumpy ride in the last decade, but at least for now the original agenda is back.
That’s why, the Deputy Commissioner of Muktsar was removed and 52 cops were dismissed from service last week – although no serious action has been taken against any senior IPS officer so far.
Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s government knows it has its work cut out. The next two years will be crucial.
