MCD election results 2017: The battle is still not lost, here’s how Arvind Kejriwal can save AAP [Opinion]

Since major political parties have started preparing for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Arvind Kejriwal should now work for expanding the party nationally.

By: Raza Naqvi |
April 26, 2017 4:53 pm

Tags: AAP, Arvind Kejriwal,

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) which came into Indian politics with a bang, seems to have completely lost the plot. Today’s result in MCD election is a proof. The party, that was born out of the Anna movement and rose to power within no time due to its ‘anti-corruption’stance, has once again faced an embarrassing defeat after the recent poll debacle in Punjab and Assembly elections.

It seems like AAP really doesn’t like living up to people’s expectations. Its ‘diminishing popularity’ and increasing trolls on Twitter, indicate that the ‘baseless allegations’ AAP throws at others are no more a driving factor in wooing voters in the elections.

Soon after early trends suggested that the BJP was going to win big in the MCD polls, demands were raised that it is time for Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal to resign as the AAP failed miserably to get votes, despite being in power with a strong majority in Delhi.

Opposition leaders claimed that the Delhi CM stands exposed now and people have lost their faith in him. Recently, Kejriwal had to face the ire from all the corners after losing Punjab and Goa, now the MCD poll verdict has just added to it.

Since major political parties have started preparing for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Arvind Kejriwal was also looking to expand the party nationally. However, the poll debacles is now posing questions over his leadership quality and capability of running a party like AAP.

Here’re are a few things Arvind Kejriwal should keep in mind to ‘save the AAP’ in future:

The party needs to undergo serious introspection if it wants to resist the onslaught from BJP. Blaming PM Narendra Modi won’t help Kejriwal in any way. He needs to rethink his strategy, else retaining Delhi in the 2020 Assembly election and expanding base in rest of India in 2019 will be next to impossible.
AAP is a one man party, dependent solely on the Delhi Chief Minister. Today, AAP is no different from regional parties like RJD, JD(U), BSP, etc, which are all dependent on only one leader. Kejriwal will have to promote other leaders for the growth of the party. If Kejriwal could solely help AAP, then the party would have won big in Punjab and Goa.
For increasing its voter base, Kejriwal will definitely have to do some good work on the ground. Spending so much money on government advertisements will always give the opposition a chance to target the AAP, and today’s result shows, that the opposition voice really plays an important role in changing the mindset of the voters.
Bringing back ‘ousted’ leaders and party founders Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan will also help the party in wooing back the party supporters. Their sacking has dented the image of AAP, especially among the youngsters. The party will gain from the expertise of Yadav, who knows a lot about the demographics and socio-economic background of different states – being a pollster earlier. Bhushan can help the party with his legal expertise.

To sum up, Kejriwal needs to stop doing ‘all the drama’ by dragging PM Modi or the Congress for that matter into random controversies and the AAP needs to re-establish its connect with the ‘aam aadmi’, which it has perhaps lost.