Party chief and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is in Punjab at present to attend a 10-day Vipassana meditation camp near Hoshiarpur.
CHANDIGARH: Having suffered a major setback in the Delhi Assembly elections at the hands of the BJP, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has shifted its focus to safeguarding Punjab—the only state where it remains in power. Though the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections are still two years away, the party has started putting its house in order, with the leadership leaving no stone unturned to keep its voter base intact and ensure that its governance model does not face the same rejection it did in Delhi.
Party chief and former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, along with his wife Sunita, is currently in Punjab to attend a 10-day Vipassana meditation camp at the Dhamma Dhaja Vipassana Centre near Hoshiarpur. Kejriwal had attended a similar retreat in December 2023 amid legal troubles related to the alleged excise policy scam.
A party leader, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that during his state visit, Kejriwal is likely to meet party MLAs and ground-level leaders to discuss the future course of action. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, along with his Cabinet colleagues, will also attend the meeting, which will include an analysis of the party’s poor performance in the February 8 Delhi elections. The leaders added that Kejriwal would also gather feedback from Punjab leaders regarding the ground-level strategy for the state.
The AAP swung into action as the ‘Delhi model’—with a focus on health and education—that played a crucial role in AAP’s Punjab victory in 2022, has now been rejected by voters in the national capital. This has forced the party to rework its strategy for Punjab to counter growing discontent, especially among the farming community.
“I am answerable to 3.50 crore Punjabis and I cannot allow anybody to make Punjab a protest state. The protests have cost the state heavily and affected business,” Mann told the media after meeting famer leaders, signalling that the AAP government was also concerned about non-farmers in the state.
However, Punjab’s political scene differs from Delhi, as AAP currently enjoys a dominant position with 92 out of 117 MLAs in the Punjab Assembly. But political analysts warn that maintaining this stronghold will require a renewed approach. The party must not only face Congress and BJP, but also tackle parties with a religious focus.
Although the BJP has only two MLAs in the state, internal reports suggest that the saffron party is working on the ground with a special focus on the larger Hindu and Dalit vote banks, as both communities make up nearly 70% of the state’s population. After the breakup of its alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), the BJP has shifted its focus to Hindus, especially in urban areas.
On the other hand, Congress, which won only 18 seats in the 2022 Punjab Assembly elections but remained the second-largest party with nearly 23% vote share, has already begun positioning itself for a comeback. Even the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), which faced two consecutive defeats, is reeling from a crisis. Party chief Sukhbir Badal has struggled to maintain unity after the death of the party’s patriarch Parkash Singh Badal. The SAD’s vote share dropped from 30.06% in 2017 to 18.38% in 2022, and its seat count fell from 18 to three. Since the breakup of its alliance with the BJP, SAD has faced its worst period, with several senior party leaders, who were close to Parkash, leaving due to dissatisfaction with Sukhbir’s leadership.
The SAD, focused mainly on the farming and Panthic vote bank, may face further troubles in the coming elections due to the emergence of pro-Khalistan preacher and jailed Lok Sabha MP Amritpal Singh. He, along with a group of radical leaders, formed his own party—Akali Dal (Waris Punjab De)—with a focus on the Panthic vote bank, traditionally loyal to SAD (Badal) and SAD (Mann).
Even as two years remain before the elections, AAP faces both internal and external challenges that could reshape Punjab’s political future. Following AAP’s Delhi poll debacle, opposition leaders, particularly Congress’ Leader of Opposition in Punjab, Partap Bajwa, recently claimed that nearly 30 AAP MLAs are in touch with his party, leaving AAP leadership in a precarious position. While AAP has dismissed these claims as baseless, the possibility of defections closer to the elections cannot be ruled out. Internal party sources have revealed that some leaders feel Kejriwal’s interference, leading to a “Super Chief Minister” perception, could harm the party in Punjab.
With opposition parties sensing an opportunity, Punjab’s political environment is heating up. The BJP’s resurgence in Delhi, where it secured 48 out of 70 seats, and its victory in neighbouring Haryana have given it renewed confidence, worrying AAP leaders.
Soon after its defeat in Delhi, the Bhagwant Mann government in Punjab is facing increasing pressure over unfulfilled election promises, including Rs 1,000 monthly payments to all women, making Punjab drug-free, strengthening law and order to counter the terrorist-gangster network, checking illegal mining, and delivering justice in sacrilege cases.
In the past three years, AAP has fulfilled several promises, including providing free electricity up to 600 units, filling 50,000 government vacancies, and improving the health and education sectors by setting up 881 mohalla clinics and 118 schools of eminence. However, the Mann government has so far failed to address burning issues like law and order and the drug menace in the border state.
“AAP came to power on promises of making Punjab free from corruption and drugs. Instead of making new promises, they need to stick to core issues and provide relief to the people,” said Kamal Anand, a political observer.
“To completely eradicate drugs, as envisioned by Arvind Kejriwal, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann’s government is taking new steps to stop cross-border smuggling of drugs and weapons,” said AAP’s Punjab President and Cabinet Minister Aman Arora.