Pathak-led AAP strategists make final push ahead of D-Day
With just four days to go for campaigning to end for the bypolls to four Assembly seats, ruling AAP strategists, led by Rajya Sabha MP Sandeep Pathak, are leaving no stone unturned to seek votes for the party candidates.
While AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal and CM Bhagwant Mann remain the most important faces in the poll campaign, the planning and strategy is being done by Pathak, who is also AAP’s general secretary (organisation), and his team. Mann being the most “saleable” face of the party in Punjab, is going about campaigning aggressively.
Last night, Pathak held a meeting with two teams of MLAs/ministers at Dasuya, to take stock of the strategy for Chabbewal and Dera Baba Nanak. Sources told The Tribune that the pollsters had managed to win over certain ministries of Christians that have a substantial following in both the constituencies. They are also confident of the Akali voters turning in their favour in at least two poll-bound constituencies, rather than being split three ways among AAP, Congress and BJP. No wonder the election rhetoric is now more anti-Congress and BJP, rather than hitting out at the SAD.
All party MLAs and leaders have been divided into four teams, with each team deployed in the constituencies of Chabbewal, Dera Baba Nanak, Barnala and Gidderbaha. These teams are reportedly making personal connect with prominent leaders of different vote banks to ensure that voters can be mobilised for the AAP candidates. Since the “carrot” of important posts in the party organisation has been kept hanging in front of the leaders, they are doing their bit to mobilise voters… except in Barnala, where AAP rebel Gurdeep Singh Batth is still cutting into AAP’s vote base.
The party organisation is to be revamped after the byelections. CM Mann has already announced his decision to quit as state party president so that he can concentrate on running the government.
Since all four seats are predominantly rural, the party is going all out to woo farmers. By ensuring faster lifting of paddy, better availability of DAP, and promise of higher State Agreed Price of sugarcane, the ruling party has tried to keep these constituencies away from the problems plaguing farmers in the rest of the state. Since the age-old “emotive” issue of claim of Punjab to Chandigarh finds resonance with the rural population, the issue is being raised forcefully by the party, after approval was granted to Haryana for making its own Assembly building in Chandigarh.
Winning the elections is crucial for AAP for many reasons, with the most important being that Kejriwal is directly making his presence felt in the state’s political arena, post relinquishing the charge of Delhi CM’s post. A win will bolster his image just before the 2025 Delhi polls.
Since these four elections, come in the middle of the AAP term in Punjab, will also be a referendum on the AAP government’s performance.