Aam Aadmi Party not to contest assembly elections in any other state this year

NEW DELHI: Aam Aadmi Party will not contest assembly elections in any other state this year after its landslide win in Delhi, senior leaders privy to the decision told ET on Wednesday, ruling out participation in the Bihar polls scheduled for October and marking a sharp strategic shift from its earlier expansionist policy.

The Arvind Kejriwal-led party’s central leadership has rejected demands from its regional leaders and members to seek to replicate in other states its sweeping win in Delhi, the leaders said on the condition of anonymity.

AAP won an overwhelming 67 of Delhi’s 70 assembly seats in results declared on Tuesday and halted the victory march of BJP. “We do not want to repeat our mistakes of 2014,” said an AAP leader, referring to the party’s decision to go national during the April-May Lok Sabha elections within six months of its impressive debut in Delhi polls in 2013. The move had proved disastrous, with as many as 96% of the 440 AAP candidates losing their deposit in the Lok Sabha elections.

“Yes, we have national appeal, but no national ambitions at this moment. We are not contesting any elections outside of Delhi immediately. Nothing in 2015,” the leader said. AAP’s central leadership does not think the party has either the resources or organisational structure to replicate its success in Delhi elsewhere in the country, another senior leader said.

No tie-up with regional parties for now

“You need essentially three things to fight a state election — a credible face, an election campaign team and a robust organisational structure. We don’t see that in any state as of now,” the senior AAP leader said. This line of thinking had led Kejriwal and the party’s convenor for Punjab, Sucha Singh Chhottepur, to decide against contesting the state civic elections this month, the leader said, adding the party has nonetheless not completely ruled out its participation in assembly elections in Punjab in two years.

Regional leaders from Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee to JD(U)’s Nitish Kumar had recently declared support for AAP in Delhi, sparking off speculation over whether Kejriwal’s party would be interested in stitching up a pan-India alliance against BJP. Kejriwal told ET in an interview on February 6 that he was happy about the support extended by Banerjee, but added it was “premature” to comment on whether this would lead to any political alliance.

After the triumph in Delhi, another AAP leader said more categorically on Wednesday, “We are not interested in entering into an alliance with another state party for contesting any state election.”