NEW DELHI: By wooing voters considered loyal to both the Akalis and the Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) wants to occupy the central space in the Punjab assembly elections early next year rather than forge a coalition with those at the margins.
The exit of AAP Punjab chief Sucha Singh Chhotepur last month and cricketer-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu decision to announce a new party on September 8 — the day Arvind Kejriwal began his four-day campaign tour of Punjab — had triggered speculation that the anti-Akali vote in Punjab would get divided among the challengers to the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party (SAD-BJP) combine.
But Kejriwal’s pitch to the Punjab electorate during his four days in the state has made it clear that AAP is not looking to win anti-Akali votes alone, according to experts.
At a rally in Moga’s Bagha Purana grain market on Sunday, Kejriwal and other AAP leaders released the party’s manifesto for Punjab’s farmers — a 31-point charter to improve their socio-economic conditions and make them debt-free by 2018.
The promises include debt-waivers, crop-loss compensation and implementing the MS Swaminathan Commission report that guarantees farmers a minimum income of one and a half times their input costs.
{{/usCountry}}The promises include debt-waivers, crop-loss compensation and implementing the MS Swaminathan Commission report that guarantees farmers a minimum income of one and a half times their input costs.
{{/usCountry}}In its bid to garner farmers’ votes, AAP has announced that it will continue to give free electricity to them, which is seen as the prime cause of Punjab’s depleting water table and a catalyst to the agrarian crisis in the state.
“Debt is a symptom of the crisis and not the problem itself,” says Pramod Kumar of the Institute of Development and Communication. “AAP’s announcements are short-sighted but populist. And blatant doles attract voters.”
A large share of the SAD-BJP vote has already shifted due to 10 years of anti-incumbency and is up for grabs, experts say and AAP wants to capture it.
The party made a debut in Punjab in the 2014 Lok Sabha election with a win in four of 13 seats (as many as the ruling SAD won) and 30.4% of the votes, ending the bipolarity of Punjab’s electoral politics.
After his visit to the Golden Temple in Amritsar, Kejriwal announced both Amritsar and Anandpur Sahib will be declared holy cities and the sale of liquor, tobacco and meat will be banned there. The announcement is aimed at the Panthic (religious Sikhs’) vote just as much as it is at women who are at the receiving end of Punjab’s substance abuse problem.
It is also AAP’s attempt to align with the Sikh psyche in the light of a Punjabi-versus-outsider allegation triggered by the exit of Chhotepur. Next month, AAP will release its manifesto for Dalits — who make up nearly 32% (Census 2011) of Punjab’s population.