NEW DELHI: A source close to Kanhaiya Kumar said, ‘Kejriwal has not done this for other constituencies. His instructions are especially for the constituency from where Kanhaiya Kumar is contesting.’
Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party head Arvind Kejriwal has instructed his party leadership to ensure the victory of Congress candidate from North East Delhi Lok Sabha seat Kanhaiya Kumar, further developing smooth coordination (earlier missing) between the rank and file of the two alliance partners, according to sources.
Word is, Kejriwal has done his own assessments in Delhi which has made him come to a point where he needs to support Kumar because of his quality of outspokenness and ability to battle out the narrative against the saffron brigade.
A source close to Kumar said, “Kejriwal has not done so for other constituencies. His instructions are especially for this very constituency where from Kanhaiya Kumar is contesting. Perhaps the same thing may not be true if Kejriwal would have been out of jail then nobody would have wanted him to win. But now AAP leaders have got this message that they have to work together to ensure his victory. There are around 10 assembly constituencies in North East Delhi Lok Sabha segment out of which three are held by the BJP and the rest of the 7 seats are held by the AAP. It is an uphill task but the AAP is lending its full support.”
Regarding the internal affairs of Congress, according to party insiders, the party leaders had been scattered when Arvinder Singh Lovely was heading the party until recently. They blame his personal interests (as an aspirant of a Lok Sabha seat in Delhi) in impeding the smooth functioning of the cadre. It had led him to obstruct the party support for Kanhaiya Kumar. A party insider said, “Before, leaders were afraid and they wouldn’t work the way they should have. Because if they did work for the candidates they would get a call from PCC that with whose permission have they undertaken the work? As Kumar was seen as an outsider and Lovely never wanted to back him up or allow him to win the election. Now there is nothing like that and everybody is working in tandem and everybody has a mutual goal of making our candidates win.”
Moreover, the fight against the BJP is seen difficult and Kanhaiya, according to party leaders, has scrambled his team for door to door campaigning where he has already visited around 50 homes in his constituency. What is to be expected, according to top leaders, is that if he is able to win the seat, he will become a very powerful leader. A top leader said, “He is young, he has his own popularity and can speak and produce arguments against the BJP. That is very important. Above all, he has the trust of Rahul Gandhi. So if he occupies a constitutional position, he will will become indispensable for the party’s external politics.”