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AAP eyes Himachal polls after Punjab win, to contest all seats
Delhi model of development will be the party’s main poll plank in Himachal Pradesh, said AAP leader and Delhi health minister Satyender Jain
Buoyed by its landslide win in Punjab, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Saturday announced to contest elections in all 68 assembly seats in Himachal Pradesh, besides fielding candidates in the next month’s civic polls in Shimla.
Delhi model of development will be the party’s main poll plank in Himachal Pradesh, said AAP leader and Delhi health minister Satyender Jain. “This was for the first time the AAP registered a historic victory in assembly elections outside Delhi. Development was the main poll plank of the party,” he told reporters in Shimla.
“Till now, the politics revolved around parties and their ideologies, but we fought the elections on the basic issues of health care, water and empowerment of women. People (of Punjab) voted us on the development model adopted in Delhi,” Jain said, adding that securing 92 of the 117 assembly seats in Punjab was historic.
“We have decided to contest (Himachal Pradesh) elections full throttle. Party sought a vote on Delhi model in Punjab and will do the same in Himachal as well,” Jain said. “Party is also seeking feedback from common people. People here are not happy with the health care facilities. Not much has been done in the field of education either.”
People of the state are fed up with privileged leaders in both the Congress and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Jain said, adding that the Arvind Kejriwal-led party will provide an able alternative to the northern state.
“People in Himachal had been alternating power between the Congress and BJP, we will provide the alternative. Arvind Kejriwal has given a new vision to the country,” he said, adding that the AAP’s main fight in the hill state was against the BJP.
The people of Himachal are disappointed with traditional parties, said Ratnesh Gupta, AAP in-charge of Himachal Pradesh. “The AAP will offer them an option and we promise change.”
AAP leaders, including Delhi chief minister Kejriwal, will be visiting the state, Gupta said. “Our party prefers leaders with a clean image. Many leaders from both parties (the Congress and the BJP) are in touch with us.”
But before the assembly elections scheduled towards the end of the year, the AAP plans to contest the Shimla Municipal Corporation elections in April. “It will give us a chance to gauge the mood of the voters and bolster our prospects,” he added.
But, emulating the Punjab win in Himachal Pradesh will be an uphill task for the AAP, which lacks a formidable face to lead the party.
The AAP tried its luck electorally in Himachal Pradesh during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections as well by fielding former MP Rajan Sushant, who had switched over from the BJP, from Kangra and Kamal Kanta Batra, the mother of Kargil war hero Captain Vikram Batra, from Hamirpur constituencies. However, they couldn’t even save their security deposit and eventually the AAP turned its focus away from Himachal.
It did not field candidates in the 2017 assembly elections and the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Recently, it fielded its candidate in the Dharamshala Municipal Corporation elections, but did not campaign hard enough. The party is yet to make inroads in the tribal regions of Kinnaur, Lahaul and Spiti and Bharmour.
“Forty AAP members have been elected as panchayat presidents,” Gupta said. But there are over 3,600 panchayats in Himachal.
Meanwhile, the BJP and the Congress said the new entrant will find it hard to make an impact in Himachal Pradesh.
“Many a times a third party has attempted to make inroads in Himachal Pradesh, but voters have always rejected them. There will be no impact of the Punjab poll results here. The circumstances in Himachal Pradesh are different. They have no leadership base here. The BJP will perform well,” said state BJP chief Suresh Kashyap.
Rejecting any infighting within the Congress, party’s state president Kuldeep Singh Rathore said: “The state unit is united. It won all the recent by-elections in the state and municipal corporation elections at two places. Himachal has always seen a bipolar contest.”
According to political experts and commentators, the AAP will have to work hard to capitalise on political weakness of the Congress that faces a leadership vacuum after the death of former chief minister Virbhadra Singh, and the governance deficit of the BJP.
“The AAP is eying Himachal Pradesh after the Punjab victory but it’s too early to expect such gains here. The political landscapes of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab are different. The AAP owes its success to Punjab’s disgruntled public. Corruption by the Congress and Akalis and a weak BJP besides the farmers’ protest worked for it there,” said Harish Thakur, who heads the political science department at Himachal Pradesh University.
The state has seen a third option emerging on the political scene but failed to make an impact. The first such regional outfit, the Lok Raj Party (LRP), was formed in 1967. Headed by former assembly speaker Thakur Sen Negi, the LRP had another heavyweight leader, JBL Khachi. However, it could win only two of the 16 seats it contested in the 1972 assembly elections.
No third party could achieve a major success for the next two decades as power changed hands between the Congress and the BJP.
In the 1990 elections, the Janata Dal emerged on the political landscape of the state. Led by Vijai Singh Mankotia, who switched sides from the Congress, the party won 11 seats in a pre-poll alliance with the BJP, which got an absolute majority with 46 seats.
The coalition government was dismissed in the aftermath of the Babri Masjid demolition. By the 1993 assembly elections, Mankotia was back in the Congress and the Janata Dal faded into oblivion.
After parting ways with the Congress, veteran leader Sukh Ram founded the Himachal Vikas Congress (HVC) in 1997. The HVC won five seats in 1998 and entered into a post-poll alliance with the BJP, helping the saffron party form the government when it was one seat short of the majority mark.
Since then, no third party has been able to win big in the state.
