Is this the endgame for Kejriwal?

AAP's performance has ended up compounding the problems for the party given its showing in the assembly elections held in the states of Goa and Punjab this year.

Coming to power with 67 seats out of 70 in the New Delhi assembly elections in 2015, things had never been better for Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party. Just a couple of years later, they have never seemed so bleak.

Though technically it is first Municipal Corporation of Delhi election, the results coming out of it can be termed nothing but a rout with the BJP thrashing both the AAP and the Congress.

The result is being seen as a rejection of the party by the people of the state and such a inference would be difficult to counter.

AAP's performance has ended up compounding the problems for the party given its showing in the assembly elections held in the states of Goa and Punjab this year.

While in Punjab it did better than the incumbent SAD-BJP government by becoming the main opposition party, the performance was major let down following its own expectations and the exit polls, with a return of only 20 seats out of 117.

In Goa, where the party had hoped for an impressive showing, the party's candidates lost deposits in 38 of the 39 seats

Following its surprise victory in 2013 Delhi assembly elections, its performance in the Lok Sabha elections of 2014 had come as a rude awakening when it only won 4 seats even though it had fielded 432 candidates, of which 414 had to surrender their security deposits.

But it is the latest setback in its own backyard that seems to have landed the party in the last chance saloon.

Following its impressive victory in 2015, it had started planning to branch out into different states eventually leading to Kejriwal challenging Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Those hopes seem to be wholly and truly gone. The only saving grace for the party seems to be that it still has almost 3 years in government in Delhi. And that is where they should be concentrating for now.

With many senior colleagues and leaders from the 2015 victory have moved away or thrown out of the party, the foundations of the party seems shaky as it has become solely dependent on Kejriwal.

It is time for Kejriwal and his party to go back to the drawing board, as the plan they have had for elections so far is clearly not working. And Delhi more than anywhere else seems to be his endgame.

OneIndia News