Mistakes led to election losses, will introspect, says Kejriwal
NEW DELHI: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday attributed the recent electoral losses to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s own “mistakes”, vowing to introspect and do a course correction to revive the party’s fortunes.
Earlier, the activist-turnedpolitician had blamed “tampered EVMs” for his party’s poor show in the recent civic polls in Delhi. It also came a day after one of his party leaders, Kumar Vishwas, challenged the party’s official line besides raising a host of other issues related to party functioning.
“In the last two days, I spoke to many volunteers and voters. The reality is obvious. Yes, we made mistakes but we will introspect and course correct. Time to go back to drawing board. To not evolve will be silly,” the chief minister said in a tweet with a screenshot of a short message.
“We owe that to voters n volunteers. We owe that to ourselves. Need is action and not excuses. It’s time to go back to work. And even if we slip from time to time, the key is to find the reserves to hold and pull ourselves up. The people deserve nothing less. The only thing constant is change,” Kejriwal’s note added.
After failing to perform as expected in the Punjab and Goa assembly elections, the AAP faced a humiliating drubbing in the municipal elections in its own backyard, just over two years after winning a brute majority in Delhi assembly elections.
The loss had raised questions over his style of confrontational politics, often taking on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and blaming the BJP-led government at the Centre of creating hurdles for the AAP government.
His admission of mistakes is seen as an attempt to reconnect with the voters in a manner he had successfully done after his first stint in 2014.
Then he had apologised to the people for quitting over the Jan Lokpal Bill, a strategy which saw his party storm back to power in 2015 with an overwhelming majority.
Yes, we made mistakes but we will introspect and course correct. Time to go back to drawing board. To not evolve will be silly ARVIND KEJRIWAL, Delhi CM
NEW DELHI: With his renewed focus on governance after the Aam Aadmi Party’s drubbing in the municipal elections, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal is going to expand his cabinet soon.
The government is likely to induct a Dalit face as the seventh minister in Delhi’s cabinet, filling the post for important departments like social welfare, women and children, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, and languages.
The position has been lying vacant for over eight months since the then minister Sandeep Kumar was sacked over an alleged sex scandal. Kumar is an MLA from the reserved constituency Sultanpur Majra. Also, with labour minister Gopal Rai becoming the AAP Delhi convener, party members said changes in Delhi cabinet are likely.
“Like our party is being restructured post the MCD results, the government will also see changes. The AAP government has already done good work, but as pointed out by the CM on Saturday, we must do even more from here on. So, Kejriwal will surely revitalise the cabinet,” AAP spokesperson Deepak Bajpai said.
With projects being implemented in the health and education sector, improving public transport is going to be the top priority for government now. “Projects on water supply, health and education have taken off, but things haven’t picked up in the transport sector. Hence, we have been told to suggest solutions for improving transport systems among other issues in our respective constituencies,” said AAP national executive member and Seemapuri (reserved seat) MLA Rajendra Pal Gautam.
Gautam, who also heads AAP’s legal cell, is one of the frontrunners in the race for the seventh cabinet minister.
When asked about the matter, he said, “I have only heard about this, but got no formal communication from Kejriwalji. Whatever work I am assigned, I am ready to fulfill it to the best of my abilities.”
Malviya Nagar MLA Somnath Bharti also confirmed that “some kind of rejig” in the cabinet afoot. “Arvindji is definitely going to take a relook at the cabinet and overall governance. Besides, Gopal Rai has been made the convener of the party’s Delhi unit. So, may be the cabinet could see a reshuffle of some departments,” he said.
Post the civic poll result, the party will hold its second Political Affairs Committee (PAC) meeting on Sunday. On Thursday, the PAC had first met after Wednesday’s MCD results and had ratified the decision to make Gopal Rai, known for his skills in team management, the convenor of the Delhi unit.