AAP to repeat Delhi in Punjab: Arvind Kejriwal

NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party is using the Delhi model in Punjab and this will ensure similar victory for AAP next year in that state, Arvind Kejriwal said on Thursday while speaking with a select group of editors. Emphasising that, after the 2014 Lok Sabha debacle, AAP had consciously decided to only “contest to win”, Kejriwal said this approach will continue to inform the party’s future decisions regarding elections in other states.

“When we were called a spent force in Delhi after 2014 polls, we took a call that we will go back to the ground, at the booth level. We are using the same model in Punjab, where we have committees in each booth now. In three-fourmonths, it will become clear that we are winning in Punjab,” the two time CM and AAP chief explained. His essential point was that the AAP is winning since it has the proverbial “first mover’s advantage”.

Ever since Kejriwal’s mammoth rally in the election-bound state last month, speculation has been rife about the various tactics and strategies being adopted by the AAP. While dismissing most of them as speculation, Kejriwal was candid about who his political rival is. Dismissing the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance (SAD-BJP) as one facing serious “anti-incumbency”, he conceded that his party’s main rival is Congress.

On ET’s question about whether it is just anti-incumbency votes that he is expecting to benefit from, Kejriwal argued, “General trend has been that people vote out incumbent parties during anti-incumbency, but that applies for BJP and Congress.

With the AAP, vote is for hope.” Besides Punjab, he also shared substantial optimistic feedback and analysis on the performance of the much talked about odd and even road rationing scheme. On a question about not exempting two wheelers, he said one concern the government had was regarding alternatives for those commuting on two wheelers. “During first phase, increase in Metro’s passenger traffic was only 0.4% while in buses, it was 7%.

So, clearly, if two wheelers are not exempted, they will go to public transport which is not adequate. Once we get more buses in the coming months, we can think of excluding two wheelers under exemption,” he said.