If claims of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) are to be believed, Congressmen are abandoning the sinking party ship, but the ones with taint are not welcome aboard. In fact, the common man’s party has made it clear that it has no place for the “corrupt, characterless” and the thugs. Concentrating on Punjab after its resounding victory in Delhi assembly elections, the AAP has also signaled that it would give priority to the people struggling in society for people over the politicians.
“Many Congress leaders and the legislators are in touch with me but we have made it clear that the ones with corrupt, characterless, and criminal background would not be included in the party,” said AAP’s Punjab unit’s convener Sucha Singh Chhotepur. He said that the party would give priority to the people “who are struggling in the society instead of the politicians”, while denying the reports that State’s former Finance Minister and People’s Party of Punjab president Manpreet Badal is has ever approached the party.
“Manpreet has neither approached me not he has given any request to join AAP,” said Chhotepur. The statement assumes significance in the wake of AAP’s recent landslide victory in Delhi, and party’s claims of concentrating on Punjab as its “destination next”. Moreover, it is significant as the party’s political affairs committee is all set to hold a meeting to decide its future course of action in a day or so. As the infighting between Punjab’s senior party leadership is taking its toll on the Congress, the party leaders may see AAP as an opportunity to groom their political ambitions.
After exodus of sorts of several congress leader to SAD and speculation of some discontented politicians considering BJP following its strong emergence nationwide and in the neighbouring Haryana, it was believed that some of them will now try to hop the party’s political bandwagon with the change in AAP’s fortunes in Delhi. Chhotepur’s statement is corroborating the same.
“We would start out campaign by concentrating on various issues related to Punjab, and in that struggle against the powers-that-be, the party would find a “leader” to represent the party in the State,” he said. The party has already announced to launch a mass awareness programme against the growing drugs menace in the State.
“There are no dearth of issues in Punjab…we would be in direct contest with the SAD-BJP combine. Congress is all set to be broken into pieces till then,” said Chhotepur. AAP has already turned the Punjab political battle a triangular contest by pilfering 24 percent vote share of major political parties in 2014 lok Sabha elections.
A sharp decline in the vote share of Congress from around 42 per cent in 2009 lok Sabha polls to 33 per cent, and that of SAD-BJP combine to 35 per cent from previous figure of approximately 40 per cent was noticed. Catapulted itself into the forefront in mid-2014 in Punjab by winning four lok Sabha seats out of 13 while facing a complete wipe-out in all other states, the party was pushed back into the background much before the year end.
The party had failed to keep up the momentum it gained in the state by startling the political bigwigs in general elections, including former Union Minister Preneet Kaur. AAP’s hopes to emerge as viable political option in Punjab were dashed to the ground after the state’s electorate gave a clear-cut mandate against it in two by-elections, held in August 2014, just three months after.
AAP, which had lost two by-polls — Patiala and Talwandi Sabo — badly in August 2014, has already stayed away from contesting civic bodies polls in the state. AAP national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had directed all the four party MPs from Punjab to start preparation for by-poll to Dhuri Assembly.
Dhuri Assembly seat fell vacant recently after the Congress MlA Arvind Khanna resigned and decided to quit politics. The schedule for the by-poll is yet to be announced.