AAP faces an uphill task of fulfilling election promises

The Aam Aadmi Party, which has been in power in the state for nearly three years now, faces an uphill task to deliver on its promises of good governance, public welfare and being on top of the political situations, amidst a resurgent, but rudderless, Congress, a politically frittering Shiromani Akali Dal and a yet-to-find its bearings BJP.

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While the political situation remains ripe for AAP to gain and prosper, it remains to be seen how the party’s pollsters, political strategists and the intra-AAP politics will be able to leverage the opportunity.

Running out of time

The ruling party just has just this one year to perform, fulfil all electoral promises; ensure law and order; build visible signs of ushering development through big infrastructure projects; and enthuse confidence of industrial investors to start projects in Punjab so as to help generate employment opportunities for the youth.

Next year, the realpolitik will take over as elections will be announced by the end of 2026. The right economic environment-induced employment opportunity is a sure shot remedy for the AAP government to fulfil its promise of weaning away youth from drugs and to ensure they do not look for greener pastures on foreign shores or in big cities of India.

What happens in the AAP’s Punjab unit this year will largely depend on the results of Delhi elections, scheduled to be held in February. A win in the Delhi elections would mean that the party high command’s focus on Punjab would be limited, and the electoral loss in Delhi would mean complete focus of the party high command on Punjab.

This, in turn, will change many a political equation within the state unit, where frequent cabinet reshuffles and a firm control of the party on its leaders and ministers has ruffled feathers of many state leaders.

Either way, whichever side of party leadership the scales tip, this year will see the party get “battle ready for 2027”, by performing better in rebuilding public education and public health; wooing industrial investors; promoting sports and in exploring new ways to rev up the state’s largely agrarian economy through the much-awaited agricultural policy. This year will also see the blueprints for state’s economic revival, prepared by experts hired in the Punjab Development Council, practically coming into shape.

Rising debt

Since a lot of public-oriented initiatives, which the state has been promising, are held back because of the state’s burgeoning debt burden and the huge gap in income and expenditure, hopes are high that the recommendations given by the eminent economists hired by the state government to advise it on fiscal affairs, Arbind Modi and Sebastian James, for plugging loopholes in tax collection, critically examining flow of pensions to unauthorised persons; and increase in non-tax revenue will see fruition and thus help the state generate much needed revenue.