NEW DELHI: After suffering a drubbing in the national capital at the hands of a rampant Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) seems to have gone back to the drawing board to etch out a strategy for the forthcoming assembly elections.
Stunned after being blanked by the BJP in all seven Lok Sabha seats in the city, a repeat of the 2014 rout, the AAP is desperate to infuse new life into its deflated cadre and revive its prospects in time for the assembly polls. Leading the revival bid is none other than Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who will meet party workers on May 26 to flesh out a roadmap for revival before the assembly polls, scheduled sometime in February next year.
The AAP supremo would also look to boost the sagging morale of his charges and ring in changes to the party organization, if necessary.
At the meeting on Sunday, Kejriwal is likely to seek direct feedback from party workers, have them list loopholes, if any, and plan a fresh approach based on their suggestions. Some changes in the Delhi cabinet, as well as the party ranks, are also expected in the coming days.
The party will look to draw the voters’ attention to water, education, electricity and health, areas where the AAP government is believed to have made significant strides, in time for the assembly polls.
The Lok Sabha poll debacle pushed the party to third in terms of vote share in the national capital and as many as three AAP nominees lost their security deposits, adding to the ignominy of the defeat. A closer look at the Lok Sabha poll numbers in the national capital reveals that the AAP’s vote share dropped to its lowest since the party’s inception, leaving the party with little option but to restrategise.
Party sources said the AAP’s Delhi in-charge Gopal Rai met all the Lok Sabha nominees as the results kept trickling in through the counting day.
A party official said that on the polling day, May 12, a ground report analysis from all seven constituencies pointed to the fact that in this ‘presidential-style’ elections, which had boiled down to a straight face-off between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi, the AAP had little chance of cutting much ice with voters.
Speaking to reporters, Rai said, “Our top leadership, candidates, workers and volunteers worked tirelessly in these elections. We fielded new faces but were unable to convey our agenda to the people. Modi versus Rahul was the nationwide trend this Lok Sabha polls and it swayed the minds of Delhi voters from the AAP’s core agenda. However, we have to rise from this defeat and redraw our strategy for the assembly elections,” Rai said.
“However, in every corner of the city, people said they will choose between Modi and Rahul in the Lok Sabha polls but will vote for Kejriwal in the assembly elections,” Rai said.