With Sunita at forefront, Arvind Kejriwal is the face of AAP poll campaign

Bhartesh Singh Thakur

Chandigarh, July 20

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, who is in judicial custody in Tihar jail in the excise policy case, is the face of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) campaign in poll-bound Haryana.

‘Haryana ka laal’ (son of Haryana) and ‘give one chance to Kejriwal’ have become common refrains at AAP programmes in the state. In the last few days, AAP launched the poll slogan, ‘Badlenge Haryana Ka Haal, Lekar Aayenge Kejriwal,’ with Kejriwal’s face on the posters on July 18 and then announced ‘Kejriwal’s Five Guarantees’ today.

It was the Delhi CM’s wife Sunita Kejriwal who launched the guarantees at a function in Panchkula. The guarantees are part of the much-publicised AAP Delhi model that includes free power to domestic households, the opening of mohalla clinics, improving government schools, giving Rs 1,000 per month to women, and providing employment to youth.

At today’s function, Sunita Kejriwal has been described as the messenger between AAP leaders and workers, and Arvind Kejriwal. Speaking on the occasion, she said that PM Modi was jealous of Arvind Kejriwal and that her husband had been put in jail in a false ke case. “Modi says Kejriwal is a thief. If he is a thief, then no one is an honest person.”

Playing an emotional card, she said, “Modi has put Haryana’s son in jail. Arvind Kejriwal is a lion; he will not bend… Just like Gujarat stands by Modi, Haryana has to stand by Kejriwal. Don’t give even one seat to the BJP.”

“Kejriwal’s name brings trust among people. He is the face of our campaign. Kejriwal’s guarantees mean ‘pathar ki lakeer’ (they are etched in stone),” said AAP’s state senior vice president, Anurag Dhanda, when asked.

Haryana’s AAP has hardly any noteworthy leaders. Though state president Dr Sushil Gupta and senior vice president Anurag Dhanda are prominent leaders of the state unit and have been consistently holding media interactions, the party has more faith in Delhi CM’s face for Haryana polls.

The party has performed poorly in the state in the earlier elections. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the party polled 0.36 per cent of the vote, just ahead of NOTA. In the Vidhan Sabha polls later that year, the AAP contested 46 seats and forfeited deposits on all Assembly segments with a vote percentage of 0.48 per cent. It was less than NOTA, which polled 0.52 per cent.

For the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, AAP tied up with Congress as part of the INDIA bloc and was allocated the Kurukshetra seat. AAP’s Dr Sushil Gupta lost to the BJP’s Naveen Jindal by a margin of 29,021 votes. Overall, AAP secured 3.94 per cent of votes.