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AAP en route to course correction: Kejriwal asks party to focus only on Delhi

By Avinash
|
Google Oneindia News

Arvind Kejriwal. (PTI)
Seems Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal has finally understood his mistake after facing the rout in every state in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls. Now, the former Delhi Chief Minister has appealed party workers and volunteers that the party should not contest in Haryana and Maharashtra Assembly polls and focus only on Delhi.

"The Aam Aadmi Party should not fight Haryana and Maharashtra Assembly elections. We should use all resources and volunteers in Delhi," Kejriwal, in an interaction with party's Delhi volunteers on Google Hangout, said.

Overconfidence led to rout in Lok Sabha poll:

Riding on party's unprecedented performance in its debut Delhi Assembly polls, an overconfident party think tank fielded more than 400 candidates from party in the general elections. The party went into polls without holding public's nerve. Without making a proper plan and ideology Kejriwal and Co had jumped into the fray and vaguely chose candidates.

AAP had suffered a humiliating defeat in the Lok Sabha polls when party's every prominent leader, including Kejriwal, suffered a loss. Except for winning 4 LS seats in Punjab, the party failed to open its account in any other State. After losing Varanasi seat to BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, Kejriwal has returned to Delhi, where he shot to fame, and has been apologising to the people of Delhi for resigning from the Chief Minister's post.

Kejriwal is showing desperation to regain his lost ground in Delhi

Owing to party's dismal performance in the Lok Sabha elections in the states of Haryana and Maharashtra Kejriwal has reportedly come to this conclusion. All 10 of AAP candidates in Haryana received less than 10,000 votes. Party lost all 28 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra it contested out of the state's 48. Party's star candidates like Shazia Ilmi, Kumar Vishwas, Javed Jaffery and several others lost their deposits.

The party even lost its hold from Delhi, where it had won 28 seats in the Assembly polls barely six months ago, as the BJP had bagged all seven Lok Sabha seats. This perhaps added to even more humiliation for the party, which was in power in the state a few months ago.

Back to square one:

Ever since his return from Varanasi, Arvind Kejriwal is showing desperation to regain his lost ground in Delhi. The 49-day CM of Delhi after coming back to the national capital had first of all apologised to the people of Delhi for resigning and later met Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung to explore the possibility of forming the State Government. AAP has understood that it was a blunder to resign and has been constantly demanding for a re-poll to try its luck.

AAP's internal crisis:

The current crisis of leadership in the AAP could also be one of the reasons why Kejriwal is taking his feet back from his previous decision of contesting Assembly polls in the states of Haryana and Maharashtra.

AAP has seen a galaxy of senior leaders, like Shazia Ilmi, Yogendra Yadav, Anjali Damania -- who were a part of the core committee -- resigning from all party posts after poor show in LS poll. This further cements the fact that AAP leaders are uncertain about party's fate and thus have decided to distance themselves from the party.

Lack of funds:

Poor faring in Lok Sabha poll and party's loss of credibility among voters has also affected party's fund. AAP's fund has trickled down to a few thousands per day after poll results. Kejriwal's decision at this juncture could also be due to party's fund crunch.

All this makes it amply clear that the Aam Aadmi Party has once again set its eyes on Delhi but it would be interesting to see whether people, who are a bit unhappy with the Centre due to the power crisis, will show their faith in the AAP or choose between BJP and Congress.

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