A win in Punjab will bring it at par with Congress. Both parties will have two state governments each in the country.
New Delhi: Aam Admi Party (AAP) is trying its level best to become a “national party” in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections by creating a spirited image during the upcoming state polls. The party is running high-pitch campaigns in three of the five Assembly elections – Goa, Punjab and Uttarakhand.
Ensuring a healthy electoral strength in these three states, besides Delhi where it is in power, will ‘guarantee’ the party a leg up to the status of a national party in the coming parliamentary elections. Moreover, the party needs to win at least four LS seats, which it expects to do in Punjab.
Many political observers, who are closely watching the developments, argue that Punjab is very important for AAP to gain national status and they have left no stone unturned there. A win there will bolster their national ambitions. According to a recent survey, the party is projected to win most of the seats in Punjab.
Party legislator Raj Kumar Anand told ‘The Sunday Guardian’, “The preparations in Punjab are going pretty good and we will form a government there. After we win Punjab, we will win Himachal Pradesh as well. We have high hopes at the national level where Arvind Kejriwal will become a strong Opposition face.”
“There is a very good response from the people of Punjab, I have just come from there. People have got a leniency towards Aam Aadmi Party. We are expecting 75-80 seats from there. In Goa, even if we don’t form government, we will play the role of a kingmaker. From Uttarakhand, we expect 15 to 17% vote.”
The organisational strength of AAP in the poll-bound states has gone several notches up since it contested the last LS elections in 2019. The AAP then had contested in Delhi, Chandigarh, Bihar, Goa, Punjab, Andaman and Nicobar, Haryana, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh.
Earlier, the AAP would target BJP and Congress from Delhi only. Now it has platforms in several states to start “political mobilisation” and target the two national parties. The party’s ability to affect the vote percentage of BJP and Congress in Goa, Punjab and Uttarakhand will decide its fate.
AAP has already completed the process of replacing Congress in Delhi. It seems to be carrying the same exercise in Punjab. The declining fortunes of Congress is creating a vacuum in the Opposition camp, which AAP is preparing to fill.
Currently, Congress is ruling over three states, and a loss in Punjab would bring their rule to two states only. With a lot of resources fielded in Punjab, AAP is making their ambitions clear and a win in Punjab will bring it on an equal footing with Congress – both parties will have two governments each in the country.
According to a political analyst, the party has come a long way in Goa and Punjab – the sentiments in favour of AAP have multiplied many folds and a win in Punjab will give them fat confidence to grow in many other states too.