Interview of AAP spokesperson Prithvi Reddy: 'We had an inspirational leader'

Bengaluru, Feb 10: The Aam Admi Party in Delhi could not have expected a better result that this. With the voter in Delhi giving them a mandate of such a huge magnitude it is now time for them to deliver what they had promised. [Delhi assembly election 2015 results]

Prithvi Reddy, the national spokesperson and coordination committee member of the party is obviously jubilant. Apart from the important fact that the AAP had an inspirational leader, the BJP too helped our campaign a great deal, Reddy said. [

In an interview with Oneindia, Prithvi Reddy discusses the result and how everything went right for the Aam Admi Party.

Oneindia: Did you expect such a huge victory?

Prithvi Reddy: We were confident that we would win comfortably and form the government on our own. However such a huge mandate has been a bit surprising. However we knew that the Delhi voter would give a clear mandate and it would be in our favour.

Oneindia: What did the trick for the Aam Admi Party?

Prithvi Reddy: I think we redefined politics by involving the common man. Right from the scratch to the manifesto we focused only on the common man. The voters of Delhi knew that we had performed well during our short stint in the government.

Our opponents kept throwing it (49 day stint) at us. But what they did not realize that even during that very short stint the Aam Admi Party had gone a great job.

Oneindia: Were you nervous that there would be a backlash from the people for that short stint? Arvind Kejriwal was often referred to as a quitter.

Prithvi Reddy: It was on the back of our mind, but we were confident that the people would forgive us. Yes the people were angry with us for quitting. But they were also happy with what we had delivered in that short stint.

Oneindia: How different was the campaign this time?

Prithvi Reddy: I think it was pretty much the same. It was a victory of democracy at the end of it. People have only been ruled. What we did was govern and in this process cut across religion and caste.

The idea was to reach the reforms to the common man. We are a young party and deliver what we promise. I would like to thank the people of Delhi for this.

Has the AAP learnt from its mistakes or are they plans of quitting again?

Prithvi Reddy: We are a young party and are always willing to learn. We concede we have made mistakes, but it is only human to err. The difference is that we are willing to learn and make the amends.

Oneindia: Are we seeing an AAP Version 2?

Prithvi Reddy: Not really. It is the same. As I pointed out earlier there were mistakes made and we have learnt. In fact we will continue to learn and more importantly rectify it.

The reality for the AAP is that we had an inspirational leader. We moved away from traditional politics.

Oneindia: Did the Kiran Bedi or the Shazia Ilmi factor favour the AAP?

Prithvi Reddy: I don't know about that. Even if the BJP had not announced Kiran Bedi as the candidate, they would have still lost. There were many other aspirants in the BJP for the CM post.

They would have anyway pulled each other down. What we focused on is redefining politics. We believe that it is more important to govern than rule. The result today is a true celebration of democracy and for us the election had become the democracy.

Prior to the elections the Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid appealed in favour of AAP. However it was rejected by the AAP. Any particular reason?

This was a set up by the BJP and we knew it. We actually must thank the BJP as they made the people realize who to vote for.

The BJP should realize that their kind of politics has been rejected today. We have a lot of trust in the common man and this has paid off.

Oneindia: Is the AAP becoming a Delhi-specific party?

Prithvi Reddy: Not at all. This is just the start. We have limited resources, but we will build up and strengthen our position across the country.

At the moment the focus is on Delhi and we do not want to make tall promises as we need to be realistic. What we realize is that we cannot do a copy-paste of Delhi in other states.

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