‘Kejriwal will now focus on poll prep, campaign’: AAP

Arvind Kejriwal, who stepped down as Delhi chief minister on Tuesday, is likely to help the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in next year’s Delhi elections.

Arvind Kejriwal, who stepped down as Delhi chief minister on Tuesday, is likely to help the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in next year’s Delhi elections – the first will be to use the time ahead of the polls to focus his attention entirely on campaigning by holding rallies and kicking off a door-to-door outreach campaign, and the second will be to use the decision to step down as moral leverage by appealing to voters to vote him back in power if they believe in his honesty.

Arvind Kejriwal with Atishi during an event in Delhi. (PTI file photo)

According to party leaders, who detailed Kejriwal’s strategy, the AAP’s national convener intends to wade directly into the preparations for the assembly elections likely in February, and will spearhead the outreach effort as the party’s CM face.

Political experts said that Kejriwal’s surprise move to step down as CM is likely to help the AAP in the upcoming elections because the decision, which Kejriwal has said is “based on the decision to seek the public mandate of his honesty”, is likely to blunt the BJP’s sustained allegations of corruption, and may also “temper the anti-incumbency sentiment against the AAP government”.

To be sure, this is not the first time that Kejriwal has quit the post. In 2014, he resigned after just 49 days in office in a coalition government with the Congress, only to come back with a thumping majority in which his party swept 67 of the 70 assembly seats in the 2015 assembly polls.

The AAP on Monday demanded early elections in Delhi, requesting the Election Commission that the Delhi assembly election be held alongside assembly elections in Maharashtra – likely in November.

An AAP leader said that the party is planning a major public rally that will be addressed by Arvind Kejriwal. “The details of the rally are being finalised and are likely to be announced soon, the leader, who asked not to be identified, said.

“A major public outreach plan of Arvind Kejriwal is likely to be announced soon. Arvind Kejriwal was arrested in a completely fabricated case not because of corruption but due to a conspiracy by the BJP to break AAP. BJP failed in that motive. Now, Kejriwal will seek the opinion of the people and urge them to vote for him if they think that Kejriwal is honest,” said the AAP leader quoted above.

The AAP is planning to hold a mega public rally in Delhi, likely over the weekend, for which the plan was being finalised.

“Within a week, Kejriwal is likely to launch his public outreach programme. The finer details are being worked out. Kejriwal’s public outreach will continue parallelly in Delhi as well as Haryana. The dates of the events are being finalised and will be announced soon,” said a second AAP official.

Nearly five months before the term of the Delhi assembly is scheduled to come to an end, Kejriwal is also planning to hit the streets in a door-to-door campaign.

While announcing his resignation plan on Sunday, Kejriwal announced his broader plan. “I will go to every street, I will go to every house and until the public gives its verdict that Kejriwal is honest, I will not sit on the CM’s chair,” he told party workers.

“I want to ask the people of Delhi; I want to ask the people of the country whether Kejriwal is honest or guilty,” Kejriwal added during his address.

Tanvir Aeijaz, associate professor of political science at Ramjas College, said: “Kejriwal’s move to resign and focus on public outreach a few months ahead of Delhi assembly election seems to be based on the idea to turn the jailing of the AAP leaders into an opportunity and base the AAP’s narrative for the next election on how the opposition jailed him and AAP leaders and seek votes in the name of honesty... The outcome of the new narrative of the AAP will depend on how the people react to it, and how the opposition counters it,” said Tanvir Aeijaz.

Tanvir said that Kejriwal’s move is also aimed at focusing on strengthening the AAP ahead of Delhi and Haryana elections. “Now, without the responsibility of the chief minister, he can devote more time to the political activities such as playing a more active role in the opposition’s INDIA bloc, and focus on expanding the party. He is likely to engage himself in vigorous campaigning and push the narrative of the AAP,” said Tanvir.