AAP trips Congress, once again

The Congress needs to review its strategy without any further delay following its virtual decimation in the Gujarat Assembly and Delhi Municipal Corporation elections. At both these places, the Congress existence has been threatened by the rise of the Aam Aadmi Party, which is slowly but gradually occupying the political space that once belonged to the Congress.
The Grand Old Party’s leadership has always considered the BJP as its enemy number one, citing ideological differences and nuances of political narrative as the principal reasons. However, in the fast-changing circumstances, it is time for the Congress to realise that its primary enemy is AAP and not the BJP.
The AAP and BJP share a common objective of a Congress Mukt Bharat, but the major losses, whether they were in Delhi, Punjab, Goa and now Gujarat are because of the AAP factor. In Gujarat, without taking the credit away from Prime Minister Narendra Modi for carving out a historic win for his party, the presence of the much hyped AAP nominees ensured that the Congress voting percentage came down to 28% from 41% last time.
The loss of the Congress vote bank was because a part of it shifted towards AAP and this resulted in its worst drubbing in Gujarat. The party high command must introspect and understand why the AAP damages the Congress more than it does the BJP. In fact, it has never threatened the survival of the BJP as it does in case of the Congress.
The Congress and the saffron brigade are traditional rivals and in nearly 200 Lok Sabha seats, are involved in a direct fight. However, the AAP is slowly intruding into this battle zone and nibbling at the support base of the Congress.
The AAP story started in Delhi when in the December 2013 elections, the AAP captured 28 seats as compared to 32 by the BJP and eight by the Congress. In reaching the 25-plus mark, the AAP put a question mark on the future of multiple Congress leaders. The three-time Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, who enjoyed immense popularity in the media, was defeated by Arvind Kejriwal from her New Delhi constituency by 26,500 votes and she forfeited her deposit in the process.
The eight Congress nominees who won, mostly belonged to the minorities and for some odd reason, the party leadership, in order to deny the BJP a chance of forming the government, decided to support AAP thus walking straight into the well laid trap of Arvind Kejriwal and his associates.
This backing to AAP, helped Kejriwal to form the government for the first time, even if it was a short-lived dispensation. However, it harmed the Congress beyond any repair and in the 2015 elections, the AAP got a record number of 67 seats out of 70, with the BJP bagging three and the Congress none.
The Congress has never recovered from that humiliation and is virtually non-existent in the capital where it ruled for so many years and which was once its stronghold. In all subsequent elections, the AAP has cornered the Congress vote bank, though in the recent civic polls, the Congress was able to marginally do well in some Muslim dominated areas.
The AAP has always been following a very clever political strategy. Kejriwal and his associates have gauged the strength of the BJP extremely well and thus have chosen to first undo the Congress in order to consolidate their position.
Although, many of AAP’s opponents describe it as the “B” team of the RSS, yet Kejriwal has a very clear vision of his objectives. He never confronts the BJP on its political narrative, but likes to bat on his own pitch where he draws the BJP leaders to get into a political confrontation with him.
In the process, the impression that goes around amongst the Congress voters, particularly the minorities is that it was AAP which was best suited to defeat the BJP and not the Congress. For instance, in Gujarat, even if the AAP was not able to humble the BJP, it ensured that the Congress was reduced to political rubble. Its first step was to weaken the Congress and now it shall slowly try to fill the opposition’s political vacuum.
The principal reason why the BJP was unsuccessful in Himachal Pradesh was because the AAP factor was completely absent there. Many had thought that after its splendid victory in Punjab, the AAP would make some kind of impact in the adjoining Himachal, which it has been unable to do.
Kejriwal is slowly inching towards his targets in an astute and calculative manner. As a first step, he seemed confident from the outset that after this round of elections, his party would become eligible for being recognized as a national party. Now he would be aiming for a bigger role on the national stage and thus may want to emerge as the principal challenger to the BJP.
These elections have a lesson for the BJP despite its record-breaking feat in Gujarat. It was in power in three places including Himachal and the Delhi municipal corporation. It has lost in most of the byelections that were held in different states and this should be a cause of worry as well.
On its part, the Congress must put its house in order and after winning Himachal, should focus on Karnataka where it has a good chance while simultaneously reviewing its overall strategy concerning AAP, besides strengthening the organisational structure. Between us.