AAP’s UP candidates are featherweights
AAP candidates against heavyweights like Mulayam Singh, Rahul Gandhi are novices and unknown faces.
The Aam Aadmi Party’s list of candidates for Uttar Pradesh has not enthused voters who had pinned their hopes on the party.
“AAP has fielded lightweights against heavyweights, which proves that AAP leaders are either not serious about defeating the stalwarts or they do not have candidates,” said political analyst A.K. Dixit.
For instance, the AAP candidate in Mainpuri is Baba Hardev Singh, a former officer of the Provincial Civil Services in Uttar Pradesh. Singh is set to challenge Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav, who will be contesting from his home turf.
According to a senior IAS officer in the know, Baba Hardev Singh, who was state president of the Rashtriya Lok Dal before joining AAP, “cannot even look Mulayam Singh Yadav straight in the eye, leave alone challenging him in the polls”. “It was with Mulayam’s bless- ings that Singh became the president of the PCS Association in UP and continued in the post till his retirement. It is ridiculous to even think that he will challenge Mulayam Singh. He contested and lost the Assembly elections from Etmadpur in Agra in 2012. All this is a farce by the AAP,” the officer said. Another featherweight AAP contestant is Mukul Tripathi, who has been asked to challenge Union minister Salman Khurshid from Farrukkhabad. A relatively junior journalist from Lucknow, Tripathi has no base in Farrukkhabad and is a faceless person.
Similarly, Kumar Vishwas, who will contest from Amethi, may have raked in numerous controversies of late, but is not a popular face with the locals.
Shirish Tiwari, an advocate in Amethi, explains, “People in Amethi are undoubtedly angry with Rahul Gandhi because problems like bad roads and lack of electricity have remained unattended. But why would anyone vote for Kumar Vishwas who, in all probability, will not be a part of the next government? Amethi does not wish to lose its VIP status, but may send a strong message to Rahul Gandhi by narrowing his margin of victory. Besides, Kumar Vishwas is leading a gang of worthless youth and does not have any serious people supporting him.”
Shazia Ilmi, who is set to take on Congress president Sonia Gandhi from Rae Bareli, faces similar problems. Accused of being ignorant about the constituency and an unknown face to the local people, the mention of her name elicits a “Shazia, who?” response from the locals.
“The problem with AAP is that they are aiming for too much, too soon. They feel that their success in Delhi is their ticket to stardom everywhere. Every state, every constituency has its own peculiarities and one cannot parachute down and expect a trophy in every race. By doing this, AAP is undermining its own credibility,” said Ratan Agarwal, a government employee, who had initially supported the AAP movement but is now sceptical of its intentions and abilities.
AAP in UP also lacks a regional leader. AAP leader Sanjay Singh has been given the charge of UP but he is being criticised for spending too much time in Delhi instead of looking after the party affairs in the state. The party which was born from the movement has lost its steam and those who supported the movement have either withdrawn or have been sidelined.
Another cause of resentment in UP is the preference being given to “outsiders”. “When did Baba Hardev or Mukul Tripathi join the movement and where are those who built the movement? AAP is now as good or as bad as the other parties,” said another former AAP member, Jyotsna Tiwari.