Post Delhi loss, AAP works to retain support base

In three years, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has come a full circle in Punjab. After winning 92 of the 117 Assembly seats on March 10, 2022, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann-led government went from being hyper to minimal government. But with realpolitik taking over after Delhi loss, the party is again falling back on its hyper activism.

The period between the AAP government’s initial days of fulfilling its promises and this new phase of rediscovering their “political purpose” did see the government slackening. No wonder, the party got a lead in just 32 Assembly segments in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Party leaders insist that the slackening phase of governance was because they faced limited fiscal muscle, thanks to its own limited resource mobilisation and the Centre stopping some funds for want of requisite compliances by the state government.

Also, with most of AAP’s Delhi-based think tank embroiled in cases, the party’s performance in the state on several fronts had left much to be desired. The issues of corruption; deteriorating law and order; drug menace; a restive farming community; and only a trickle of industrial investment defined this period.

This, now seems to be a thing of the past. With Punjab being the only state where AAP is in power, the party top bosses are concentrating to present Punjab as the perfect model of governance.

As urban voters started losing patience, AAP appointed its Hindu leader, Aman Arora, as the party president, to lead the cadre in civic body polls.

The past three weeks have seen the ruling party drum up issues that find immediate resonance with the public. The AAP government began its new innings by taking a tough stand against corruption, placing services of an IAS officer under suspension, dismissing 52 cops and suspending 14 revenue officials for not reporting to work.

The state government has also launched its “War on Drugs” by starting a special campaign that focusses on arresting, peddlers/ smugglers, a rejuvenated rehab policy for addicts and demolishing buildings/properties of those involved in drug trade. A Cabinet Committee led by Finance Minister Harpal Cheema, including ministers Aman Arora, Dr Balbir Singh, Laljit Singh Bhullar and Tarunpreet Singh Sond, is leading the charge against drug menace.

The latest corrective “baby step” that the AAP government has taken is on improving economic sentiment in the state. Firstly, the government has tried to woo industrialists by bringing two OTS policies to enable 4,000 industrialists to take possession of their industrial plots in Focal Points. Secondly, the AAP government took a steely resolve to stop farmers from marching towards Chandigarh. This move may or may not have endeared the AAP government with industrialists/traders, but the farm unions have raised a banner of revolt against the party.

In coming days, the AAP government might take measures to resurrect the sagging economy, but it needs to be seen how the party fares in front of resurgent Congress and the BJP.

Where party faltered?

Anti-corruption drive restricted to lower-rung officials

Trade, industry, professionals and landlords still troubled by gangsters

Fresh industrial investment is a trickle

Women waiting for Rs 1,000 per month grant

No stopping of illegal mining of minor minerals

Achievements

Government jobs given to over 51,600 youngsters

300 units of free power to domestic consumers

Acquiring thermal power plant at Goindwal Sahib

Public school and health infrastructure upgraded and strengthened

Ensuring canal water for irrigating fields located at tail ends

Challenges

Keeping pressure on drug mafia

Wooing industrialists to invest in Punjab

Revving up revenues for infrastructure growth

Tackling corruption in government offices