Delhi Polls: AAP may lose middle-class votes

NEW DELHI: On Friday evening, a day after Kiran Bedi joined BJP, Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal addressed a sabha in Trilokpuri. Talking about how nervous BJP is, he said: "First the party brought its MPs to campaign in Delhi. When that did not work, the Prime Minister addressed a rally. That too failed and now BJP has brought in Bedi and Shazia Ilmi. Let's see what they are capable of."

However, while throwing a challenge at BJP, there is also the realization within the party that Bedi's arrival into politics, even with elections barely 20 days away, could easily dent whatever chances AAP had with to reach out to middle and upper class voters. While Bedi's admiration for Modi became public knowledge some months ago and AAP had been prepared for a real political battle after mid-January, her projection as BJP's face for these elections has caused the need for re-planning AAP's strategy.

Sources said that by announcing Bedi as the leader of BJP's campaign, the party achieved four things at once. AAP was gaining ground across constituencies, partly due to the absence of a local BJP leader. Projecting Bedi has done away with this problem and posed a singular challenge to Arvind Kejriwal. The party had been asking BJP for its CM face but was not prepared for this.

In one swift blow, not only did BJP quell the internal power struggle among its members but it has also given an equal face to Kejriwal's. So, where at one level AAP stands vindicated that BJP was struggling in Delhi and an outsider had to be brought in to get the house in order, the new ploy has also left AAP a little worried.

Bedi has been very popular, especially with women, youth and the middle-class. AAP was popular with the first two and was seen making some progress with the latter after having lost ground post Kejriwal's resignation. Now, there is credible fear of losing support, at least some, from all three segments. AAP maintains that this move may actually end up hurting Congress more in the end.

"The segment that did not want to vote for BJP's communal politics or for whatever other reason and chose to boycott AAP because they were unhappy with our dharnas etc, would have shifted to Congress. Now, because of Bedi, this segment is likely to move back to BJP. AAP's own vote bank would not be affected by Bedi's presence because they have already rejected BJP's brand of politics. Additionally, JJ clusters, unauthorized colonies have not just shunned BJP but they are also wary of the 'uniform'.

Of course the middle class, a part of which left us in the LS polls, was coming back. We are likely to lose this section again," said sources.

The party will, however, chalk up a strategy only after it is clear if Bedi will be BJP's CM choice and where she will contest from.