Arvind Kejriwal, within a decade of floating the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), managed to win three assembly elections with a clear majority — twice in Delhi and once in Punjab — and grabbed the status of a national party. Now, the party is aiming to sweep Haryana assembly polls too with a similar performance.
In the absence of Kejriwal — who was behind bars in the excise policy case — the AAP launched its campaign with his wife Sunita at the forefront. Earlier this week, the party issued a list of its star campaigners for the state with the chief minister’s name on top, hoping that he will walk free soon and join the campaign. The wish came true just two days later on Friday as the Supreme Court granted him bail.
In the 2020 Delhi elections, the poll campaign of the party revolved around the idea that Kejriwal is a household member — a son and a brother — who is there to serve the city. The results were in favour of his party as AAP bagged 62 of 70 seats. In 2015 too, the party had won 67 of 70 seats.
For Haryana, Kejriwal’s birthplace, the party is aiming for a similar campaign.
Speaking to News18 about what the party has planned so far, a senior leader said Haryana shares borders with Delhi and Punjab and people can see the difference as soon as they enter the other side.
“The people of Haryana are very unhappy with the way other political parties have treated them. For Delhi, Kejriwal is a son. But Haryana is no less for him as he was born there. He is one among them and people there want to have similar privileges that the people in Delhi and Punjab are getting under his leadership,” the AAP leader said.
So far, the party’s campaign, launched in July, just had a poster of Kejriwal, while other leaders, including Bhagwant Mann, Sanjay Singh, Manish Sisodia and Sandeep Pathak, were holding rallies and roadshows. Almost every week, Sunita Kejriwal was also visiting the state and holding rallies.
“People connect with Kejriwal. He is not just the party’s biggest face but also the main star campaigner. He was put in jail to break the party. But even when he was not here, the party kept him in mind while planning the campaign. It was like Lord Ram’s exile. Even though he was in exile, his ideas and ideology were motivating us. Now he is here to guide us and lead the campaign” the leader said.
Winning Haryana is not just critical for AAP’s national party status but also important to expand its hold — a long-held ambition of Kejriwal.
“A lot of injustice has happened with Kejriwal and the party in the last few months. He will be interacting with people directly and telling them that. The public already knew that it was a false case as one after the other the leaders were getting bail and there was no strong evidence against our leaders to hold them behind bars. Their release from jail has proved our stand that we are innocent,” the leader added.
On the future plan of action, the leader said Kejriwal has just stepped out and there will be some key meetings over the weekend to finalise the details.
“He just came back last night. We will be holding meetings. For sure he will go to the state for campaign and it will be an extensive one. He will be holding rallies and public meetings along with roadshows. We have very positive feedback from the ground. Kejriwal-ji’s presence will add fire to the campaign,” the leader said.
Kejriwal is also the party’s main star campaigner for the assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir. He is also likely to visit the UT but the main focus will be Haryana. The party contested in Haryana in the past too. In 2019, of the 46 seats it fought on, it lost deposits on all.
“But the party has worked really hard in the past few years and we are sure the situation will change this time in favour of AAP,” the leader added.
Commenting on other political parties where there is in-fighting and MPs/MLAs switch sides for better positions or power, the AAP leader said that is not the case with them. The leader said despite the main leaders missing from action while in jail, there was no infighting.
“Even the big political parties face in-fighting. How much respect everyone has for Kejriwal and other senior leaders is clear from the fact that despite all our top leaders in jail, there was no fighting for positions or power. Everyone stood together. That is our real power and wealth. All this could happen because we put nation and public service before perks and positions,” they said.
Haryana will go for polls on October 5 and the counting will be done on October 8. Jammu and Kashmir will have elections in three phases — September 18, 25 and October 1 — with the same date of counting of votes.
