The landslide victory for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Punjab on Thursday was bound to have a ripple effect in neighbouring Haryana, said political analysts. However, the party needed a strong local leadership and organisational set-up to rejuvenate itself in the State, they added.
Rajendra Sharma, Professor, Political Science, Maharishi Dayanand University, told The Hindu that the AAP in Haryana stood to benefit from the stupendous performance in Punjab. Disgruntled leaders from different political parties, including the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, could join the AAP he said.
“The lack of a strong local leadership has been the AAP’s biggest drawback in Haryana. Naveen Jaihind, the party’s face in the state, failed to find favour with a large section of its traditional constituency of educated urban voters. Though the party has been electorally active in Haryana for the past eight years, with occasional appearances by its convenor Arvind Kejriwal, it never seemed serious about its political ambitions in the State and this needs to change,” said Prof. Sharma.
The AAP has been trying to find a foothold in Haryana since 2014 having contested two Lok Sabha elections and the 2019 Assembly election, but has failed to register its presence. Despite Haryana sharing a long border with Delhi — which has seen two successive governments by AAP with a decisive mandate — the party, which has its origin in a long anti-corruption movement, has not just failed to win a single seat in three elections in the state, but did not even put up a semblance of fight in any of the constituencies.
In 2019, the AAP contested four Lok Sabha seats in coalition with Jannayak Janata Party, but drew a blank. It fielded candidates on 46 out of 90 Assembly seats a few months later, but finished behind NOTA with 0.48% vote share.
A Congress leader, who did not want to be named, said the political situation in Haryana was akin to Punjab in more ways than one and could work to the advantage of the AAP. “There is resentment among masses against the BJP in Haryana following the farmers’ protests and due to growing unemployment and inflation. Haryana Congress, like in Punjab, too is marred by infighting and indecisiveness. It has even failed to put in place an organisational set-up at district and block levels for several years now. Much before the assembly elections, the upcoming municipal polls could be harbinger of the things to come,” the leader said.
Meanwhile, BJP leader and former Haryana Home Minister Prof. Sampat Singh, who has been critical of his party’s stand on farm laws, extended his best wishes to AAP leaders Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann for their unprecedented victory in Punjab. “The people of Punjab have a lot of expectations from you,” he tweeted.