Understanding the election strategy of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has not only become difficult but impossible. This is just one small example of his sudden decision to resign as Delhi Chief Minister. After his release from jail, it seemed that the Congress leadership was also his goal in view of the Haryana Assembly elections. But instead, he has not even named the Congress till now. However, talks were going on for an alliance between the Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress in the Haryana Assembly elections, but it did not work out. Kejriwal could have targeted the Congress on this matter.
In the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, the Aam Aadmi Party fought in Delhi as part of an alliance with the Congress. The Aam Aadmi Party contested four of the seven seats in Delhi, while the Congress contested three. After the crushing defeat, both parties declared that the alliance between us is over. With this, the rift between the two parties has become very big. Despite this, Arvind Kejriwal is not talking about anything about the Congress now. Let’s see what is the reason for the change in Arvind Kejriwal’s tone towards the Congress.
1- The aspiration to become a national leader is impossible without the support of Congress.
Arvind Kejriwal wanted to engage in national politics from the beginning. That is why he showed courage to contest against BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi in the 2014 Banaras elections. The way he targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi also showed his desire to dominate national politics. Similarly, after Arvind Kejriwal came out of jail, he did not mention the name Delhi this time. He repeatedly talked about the country. He said that every drop of his blood will be contributed to the country. Earlier, he used the name Delhi habitually while saying this. But that is not the case now.
But today the situation seems to have changed. With the BJP weakening, the Congress has emerged stronger than before. Still, no single party in the country can single-handedly remove the Modi government from the centre. Arvind Kejriwal is well aware of this. Perhaps that is why Arvind Kejriwal’s main focus has become wooing anti-Modi votes. Arvind Kejriwal is well aware that he will be useless if he opens two fronts at the same time. Hence, their strategy focuses on targeting Modi bit by bit. This is why Modi does not open his mouth against the Congress.
2- The BJP’s vote share in the Lok Sabha elections is the reason for its soft stance towards the Congress.
During the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP’s vote share in Haryana and Delhi was so high that it could be detrimental to any party to consider it weak. In the Haryana Lok Sabha elections, the Congress was ahead in about 42 assembly seats, while the BJP was ahead in about 44. Similarly, the Aam Aadmi Party was ahead in about 4 seats. The situation was similar in Delhi, where the BJP’s vote share was much higher than the combined vote share of the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party. However, the Aam Aadmi Party was satisfied that its total vote share had increased by 6% compared to the previous elections. Clearly, no matter how much sympathy Arvind Kejriwal has managed to win over the public, he still has a lot to do to defeat the BJP. Perhaps this is why Arvind Kejriwal is in no mood to mess with the Congress right now.
3- Alliance with Congress is necessary to conquer Delhi again.
There is no doubt that with Arvind Kejriwal’s decision to resign, he might have succeeded in creating a favourable environment for him in Delhi. But it is also worth noting that when he was first in jail, the case was more sympathetic. Meanwhile, the Lok Sabha elections were going on. Many surveys showed that the Aam Aadmi Party candidate would definitely benefit from Kejriwal’s jailing. But Arvind Kejriwal’s jailing did not benefit the party. Despite the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party campaigning together, the BJP candidate managed to win the elections with an overwhelming majority. This obviously meant that even with the resignation till the Lok Sabha elections, the situation would not change much. Secondly, the Congress party was also resurgent. People’s attitude towards Rahul Gandhi was changing. Dalits and Muslims were moving towards the Congress again. Therefore, it was necessary to bring the Congress along.
4-AAP’s advantage lies against Modi in Haryana.
The first litmus test for Arvind Kejriwal after his release from jail is the Haryana elections. The biggest challenge for the Aam Aadmi Party is to prove its correctness by fielding its candidates in a total of 90 seats here. If the Aam Aadmi Party fails to improve its vote share in these elections or fails to perform well in at least 10 seats, then it can be said that the magic of Arvind Kejriwal’s release has not worked. If Kejriwal wants to do better in Haryana, then he has to target the BJP and Prime Minister Modi instead of the Congress. For this, his opposition to the BJP must be higher than that of the Congress. Only then can they gain a foothold in the anti-BJP votes. Perhaps this is the reason why Kejriwal has taken a softer stance against the Congress.
5. Because Congress also remained silent on Kejriwal
Generally, parties criticize each other whenever they get a chance. They also become friends when the need arises. Aam Aadmi Party also has a similar love-hate relationship with Congress. Arvind Kejriwal started his political career by taking back his roots from Congress. He used to say good and bad things about all Congress leaders. Then, when the opportunity arose to form the first AAP government in Delhi, he formed an alliance with Congress. Interestingly, the first complaint Kejriwal came to Tihar jail about liquor scam was filed by the Congress itself. Multiple Congress bigwigs had made serious allegations against Kejriwal government in this regard in press conferences. Now that Kejriwal is completely caught up in the matter, Congress is sympathizing with him. BJP is accused of putting opposition leaders in jail. After Kejriwal came out of jail, BJP is mobbing Aam Aadmi Party while Congress is completely silent. Yes, Delhi Congress leader Sandeep Dixit did take a dig at Kejriwal. It is said that Kejriwal is the only leader of AAP and the others are servants. However, Sandeep Dikshit also has a separate account from Kejriwal, which is related to the tenure of his mother Sheila Dikshit. When Sheila Dikshit was the Chief Minister of Delhi, Kejriwal had made many allegations against her. Well, now the rest of the Congress party is silent and quietly enjoying the fight between AAP and BJP.
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