A day after the exit polls predicted a clean sweep by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Punjab pushing the ruling Congress to the distant second, the grand old party on Tuesday deputed former Union Minister Ajay Maken and party spokesperson Pawan Khera to strategize ahead of the election results on March 10.
It has been learnt that alarmed over the not-so-good outcome predicted by most of the opinion polls, released a day before, the Congress high command has deputed senior party leaders in Punjab, along with other states, to held meeting with all candidates in the State and to work out all options or strategies on the day of result.
Punjab is the only state, among the total five that went to polls, where the Congress is in power. And the party is hopeful of retaining the border state even though all the surveys have given AAP a comfortable victory in the 117-member House. In fact, Punjab is one of the only three states where the Congress is in power on its own apart from Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.
It has been learnt that the party is expecting a hung verdict, and wanted to be prepared beforehand in the event of it finishing within the striking distance of government formation.
Available information suggests that Maken and Khera, along with the state party affairs’ in-charge Harish Choudhary have started crucial meetings on Tuesday for the post-poll strategizing.
It has also been learnt that the party has also planned to shift its newly-elected legislators to a safe location in the Congress-ruled states of Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.
“These leaders will assess the situation after the announcement of results and will ensure that all the legislators stay together...There are plans to shift the MLAs to safe locations to avoid any possibility of poaching,” said a senior party leader.
As per the exit polls, AAP, which contested its second assembly election in Punjab, emerged as a clear winner in all of the exit polls, pushing the ruling Congress to a distant second with farmers’ outfit — Samyukt Samaj Morcha (SSM) — failing in even opening its account.
Even as AAP’s seat share varied across various surveys, seven exit polls predicted its clear victory. However, a few exit polls also forecast a hung assembly in Punjab, while giving a clear edge to the AAP.
As per the surveys, the Congress party, which returned to power in 2017 with a thumping two-third majority, will finish on the second spot, followed by the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), which contested with a new alliance partner Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). SAD’s old ally, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), along with its new coalition partners — former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh’s Punjab Lok Congress and Akali stalwart Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa’s SAD (Sanyukt) — are also predicted to have failed in reaching the double-digit figure.