NEW DELHI: Political observers assert that Arvind Kejriwal's biggest challenge now is to deliver on his promises and get back his government's credibility.
"The biggest challenge is to get AAP's credibility back. Now it can't hide behind fig leaves. It cannot blame anybody for non-performance. It now has to deliver what it promised and be more mature and responsible. Kejriwal will have to counter the sentiment that Sheila Dikshit is articulating, i.e., that her government functioned between 1998 and 2004 with a BJP government at the Centre," political analyst Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay says.
Kejriwal had a historic opportunity but less time to deliver on his promises, he adds.
Jai Mrug, director of Voter Mood Research, is of the opinion that Kejriwal will do almost irreparable damage to his and his party's image if he finds excuses for non-deliverance of promises.
"If the AAP leaders now make excuses for not delivering, it will hit them hard. It is now time for them to perform or they stand a risk of perishing," he says
Sanjay Kumar of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) has a word of caution for the ruling party.
"Now that the so-called administrative hassles are out of the way, Kejriwal just needs to perform for the remainder of his tenure. The work he starts to do now, will reflect on the election results of 2019. If he slips even a little, he will lose the very plot he has build up. His biggest challenge is to show results now," he says.