GOA/PUNJAB
Kejriwal’s plan for AAP’s pan-India expansion lies shattered, for now
The Congress registered a massive win in Punjab, with the grand old party winning 77 of the total 117 seats. It also won the Lok Sabha by-election in Amritsar, which was vacated by Captain Amarinder Singh. The main credit for the emphatic goes to Captain Amarinder Singh, who was instrumental in getting leaders from outside to bolster the party’s poll prospects. He played the masterstroke in getting former BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu, his wife Navjot Kaur, the then sitting BJP MLA and former India hockey captain Pargat Singh into the Congress fold.
As part of his electoral strategy, the Congress’ CM candidate, Capt Amarinder Singh, took on Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on social media platforms, often launching a scathing attack on him. Since Mr Kejriwal was seen as the main challenger to the Congress in Punjab, the party was successful in neutralising AAP’s chances in the state.
Mr Kejriwal accused the Congress of being in a tacit understanding with the Akali Dal. Sensing that this allegation could dent the Congress, Captain Amarinder Singh decided to contest against Punjab chief minister Prakash Singh Badal from Lambi. He also made sitting Congress MP from Ludhiana Ravneet Singh ‘ Bittu’ to contest against deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal from Jalalabad. These decisions of the Congress made for good optics in the elections.
Interestingly, the strategy of the Congress to announce loan waiver to farmers and one job per family to the unemployed if they came to power also clicked with the farmers and the youth. But the average performance of the new entrant the AAP also helped the Congress. There are many reasons for the below par performance of AAP in Punjab and biggest of them all is the AAP’s failure to make any inroads in two major regions of Punjab — Majha and Malwa — and its over dependence only on the crucial area of Malwa. From the beginning, the AAP was restricted mainly to the Malwa region of Punjab and had little influence in the other two regions of Doaba and Majha where the Congress was strong.
The support of the Deras, like Dera Sacha Sauda, to Akalis during the last stage of campaigning also hurt the AAP, especially in the Malwa region, where it was expecting to do very well. Lastly, the AAP’s courting of Khalistanis and other hardliners went against the party as this posture alienated the Hindu votes.
The Hindus in Punjab are considered as Congress voters since the times of Khalistani terrorism.
Initially, both Hindus and Sikhs had supported the AAP, but after it started pleasing the hardliners a considerable section of Hindus broke away from it.
This factor helped the Congress sweep Punjab.