In a new twist to the INDIA alliance controversy in Punjab, the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday hinted it may contest the Lok Sabha election in 2024 sans the INDIA alliance.
Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, responding to whether his party would contest the election under the INDIA alliance, said it was a hypothetical question at this point in time.
“We have been given a historic mandate. This is a hypothetical question. AAP contested the elections alone and got 92 seats. AAP formed the government in Delhi thrice. We contested the election alone in Gujarat and bagged a 13 per cent vote share. AAP is the youngest national party. We know how to compete and win individually. We know how to form and run a government,” Bhagwant Mann said.
Taking a potshot at the BJP, Mann said the name of the country was being changed to suit the saffron party’s political requirements.
“What will the situation be when the 2024 elections are announced and what name of the country will be considered? Earlier, they were changing the names of railway stations and cities. Now they might have been advised by a Jyotishi (astrologer) to change the name of the country,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Punjab minister Anmol Gagan Maan said there would be no alliance between AAP and Congress in Punjab.
Interestingly, another state cabinet minister, Harpal Cheema, had previously said that it was important to keep aside small differences so as to achieve the big aim of the INDIA bloc.
The U-turn of AAP leaders over the issue of political differences seems to be the outcome of the statements issued by two senior Punjab Congress leaders that they would oppose AAP in Punjab and contest the Lok Sabha elections independently.
Some Congress and AAP leaders also say the BJP was not a threat in Punjab as its vote share is below 10 per cent. It can only harm if it joins hands with former NDA ally Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), which has a sizeable vote share in rural Punjab.
Will BJP, SAD benefit if AAP and Congress contest solo?
While the Congress and AAP are now opposing the alliance in Punjab, SAD is also sceptical about joining the INDIA bloc even after feelers were sent to it by Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and others.
While SAD supremo Sukhbir Singh Badal has claimed the party had many options to form an alliance for the general elections, political analysts say the only option left after an alliance with BSP was BJP.
Interestingly, the Congress in Punjab opposed AAP for two reasons. The party leaders allege that the AAP government has been harassing its leaders and putting them in jails. Second, it will lose its credibility as a principal opposition party by joining hands with the ruling AAP will render it toothless.
“If AAP and Congress join hands (in Punjab) what will it mean politically? Joining hands with AAP means Congress will lose its right to question the wrongdoings of the AAP government as it got the mandate to sit in the opposition. This will send a wrong message to the voters who trusted them and voted in its favour,” said Chairman of the Institute for Development and Communication (IDC), Panjab University, Chandigarh Prof. Pramod Kumar.
Kumar also said that the alliance, if it becomes a reality in Punjab, will help SAD become a consistent opposition party.
Pramod Kumar further said that the BJP and Akali Dal may benefit from the Congress and AAP’s poll alliance in case BJP and SAD return to the old alliance fold.
“Why am I saying this? If Akali Dal and BJP do not join hands, then AAP will get the maximum advantage from the India alliance. It may not come as a surprise if AAP even sweeps the Lok Sabha polls in Punjab,” said the professor.