After forming and leaving the government for the first time in Delhi, the Aam Aadmi Party had its first success in Punjab in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Four Aam Aadmi Party MPs, including Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, have reached the Lok Sabha. Full of enthusiasm after defeating then Congress Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit in Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal contested the elections in Varanasi himself but lost to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
After leaving Delhi, he headed for Punjab. When asked about Uttar Pradesh, Arvind Kejriwal had said that AAP has no bandwidth in UP.
While leaving Delhi to contest the 2017 assembly elections, Arvind Kejriwal had said, Now I will sit only in Punjab. The AAP did not get power then but five years later it has reaped all the benefits.
Arvind Kejriwal will also hold rallies and roadshows in Delhi, but for now, it seems that the government has been handed over to Atishi and the party has been handed over to Manish Sisodia, while Arvind Kejriwal is preparing to knock on doors from house to house in Haryana.
Sunita Kejriwal has created an atmosphere in Haryana that is favourable to the Aam Aadmi Party. She calls herself the daughter-in-law of Haryana and her husband the son of the state and has so far been demanding votes in the name of Arvind Kejriwal at rallies. She often says, your son is a lion. She has been appealing to the people of Haryana to support Arvind Kejriwal’s struggle.
Now Arvind Kejriwal himself will also enter this space. Now he is also freed from the responsibility of the government. It may not be said, but it seems that they will settle in Haryana as well.
Kejriwal prepares for Haryana elections
Punjab and Haryana are almost identical and share the capital city of Chandigarh – However, there are other reasons why Arvind Kejriwal sees opportunities in Haryana.
By winning the 2022 assembly elections, Arvind Kejriwal formed the Aam Aadmi Party government in Punjab, but it had become the main opposition party in 2017. There seems to be no such chance in Haryana at the moment, but you can definitely join the race to make AAP the main opposition party.
Currently, the battle for power in Haryana is believed to be between the ruling BJP and the AFP, but it does not seem right to deny that the Aam Aadmi Party has also made inroads.
Arvind Kejriwal hails from Kheda village in Hisar, Haryana, but the Aam Aadmi Party has not been able to make a significant impact in the elections so far.
Opportunities are being created for AAP as the BJP seems a bit weak and the Congress is already gearing up. The confidence of the Congress has grown due to the results of the Lok Sabha elections and Rahul Gandhi becoming the Leader of Opposition.
Both the BJP and the Congress are currently struggling with internal struggles. Many BJP leaders even cried openly after not getting tickets. The situation of the Congress in this matter is not much different.
Neither the BJP nor the Congress won a majority in the 2019 Haryana assembly elections, but the BJP formed a coalition government with the Dushyant Chautala-led Janata Dal. There wasn’t even that alliance.
In fact, the situation fits Arvind Kejriwal’s political ambitions perfectly – so if he had any expectations from the Haryana elections, it seems he was not going far wrong.
Differences between Haryana and Punjab politics
The current political landscape in Haryana may not look like 2022, but it can definitely be seen as Punjab in 2017. That is why Arvind Kejriwal, even while in jail, gave the go-ahead for the Aam Aadmi Party team to continue with election preparations in Haryana.
Arvind Kejriwal was so confident that he rejected the proposal of an alliance with the Congress and decided to contest the elections in all 90 assembly seats in Haryana.
The Aam Aadmi Party may have a chance to establish a strong foothold in Haryana, but the same cannot be said for Punjab just yet.
1. The BJP is in a very weak position in the 2022 Punjab assembly elections as its alliance with the Akali Dal broke down over the farm laws, and the BJP has failed to build any significant base for itself despite being a long-time governing partner – see Haryana, where the Congress is in a much stronger position than the BJP in Punjab.
2. Talking about the Aam Aadmi Party, it was active in Punjab for more than five years before coming to power, but in Haryana for less than five months.
3. Of course, Aam Aadmi Party workers are as active in Haryana as they were in Delhi in 2013, but AAP’s numbers in the election seem to lag behind only those of the BJP and the Congress.
4. There is only one thing that seems to be absolutely in favor of Arvind Kejriwal. There is a lot of disaffection between the BJP and the Congress in Haryana and it is clear that Arvind Kejriwal can benefit from it.
Aam Aadmi Party has a chance in Haryana but the big question is whether Arvind Kejriwal will put Delhi at risk for the sake of Haryana? Because the benefits can only be gained where the focus is the most.
Follow us On Social Media Google News and Twitter/X