2024 success a day dream for Kejriwal

Bhubaneswar, Aug 23(Reporters Today Bureau): The hype attempted to be created by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to be alternative to the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections appears a day dream. A party without a national base and aiming to capture power at the Centre in 2024 can just be described a tall game and nothing more.

When Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia was raided by the Central Bureau of Investigation three days ago, an attempt was made by his party—AAP—to project him as one who was being targeted to scuttle the party’s chances of success during the 2024 polls. But not a single person outside the party could digest it and began ridiculing it.

The AAP is yet to capture a single Lok Sabha seat in any state. It only has a few seats in the Rajya Sabha. But in a country like India, a party like AAP with out a national presence is unlikely to win a seat even with the best possible efforts in the next two years when the elections are due. The AAP has failed miserably in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, Goa in consolidating its position and most of its candidates in Assembly elections lost their deposits. In a such a situation AAP winning the Lok Sabha polls in 2024 is nothing but a distant dream. However, it is trying its best to make some gains in the forthcoming Assembly polls in Himachal, Gujarat and Telengana. But defeating BJP in Gujurat and Himachal and countering influence of TRS in Telengana is at the present beyond the grasp of the AAP.

Further, AAP’s pet freebee slogans have also come under public scrutiny. Favouring a larger section of the society with freebies from the taxes collected from a fewer section of the society has not gone down well.

Further, the recent arrest of Delhi’s Health Minister Satyendra Jain and the spectre of arrest of Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia has dimmed the chances of the AAP notwithstanding all its tall claims.

In a State like Odisha, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee—a strong contender for the top post of Prime Minister- has not been able to impress the voters in the past elections and AAP’s presence is virtually non-existent. In that situation the AAP making inroads too would be perhaps the most surprising elements.

AAP will require a lot more efforts to first set its base in different states, consolidate it and then launch itself. It could take years for the exercise and as of now there appears no vacancy during 2024.