It has been an extraordinary year for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). It had a landslide victory in the Punjab elections in the first half of 2022, and emerged as the single largest party in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections by the end of the year, ousting the BJP from its 15-year term Long-term rule in civic body, achieved 12.9% vote share in Gujarat elections, and declared a “national” party.
Party leaders say that AAP has fully reaped the fruits of its 10 years of work in 2022, and now the stage is set for the next, as 2023 is going to be an “action-packed” year in which It has major plans to expand its national footprint. It begins with the states where assembly elections are due – Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana, besides the north-eastern states of Tripura, Mizoram, Meghalaya and Nagaland.
Back to back victories were not expected, even for party insiders. Riding on the massive popularity of Bhagwant Mann and the anti-incumbency wave of the ruling Congress in Punjab, the AAP had found its way to victory. But it turned out to be historic, as AAP got 92 seats in the 117-member assembly, something the party had not thought of at all.
Then came the MCD elections, eagerly awaited by the Aam Aadmi Party, which had been campaigning against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the past three years, knowing it would win here. AAP got 134 wards out of 250, and despite anti-incumbency, BJP managed to get 104. The saffron party was not expected to get more than double digits in the civic polls. Yet the AAP looks set to seize upon its newly acquired power with its promise to clean up the city and present a solution to its mammoth solid waste management problem.
All this amid central probe agencies raiding the homes of AAP leaders in one case or the other, while rivals slammed a party that first came to power in 2013, and again in 2015, as “corrupt”. , on the strength of a strong opposition party. anti-corruption movement. Senior AAP leader and Delhi Health and Home Minister Satyendar Jain was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on May 30. In August, the CBI raided the residence of Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who was later named as one of the 15 accused in its FIR. Regarding alleged irregularities in Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22.
Meanwhile, the Aam Aadmi Party remained focussed and focused in Gujarat, continuing a spirited campaign centered on its “Delhi model”. The campaign, led by the party’s national convenor Arvind Kejriwal and other top leaders, was difficult to miss for both its opponents and the public. The Aam Aadmi Party comfortably filled the vacuum of an energetic opposition in the state during the election campaign, which was left open by the more or less inactive Congress.
Describing this year as “historic” and “inaugurating” for the party, AAP’s national spokesperson Akshay Marathe said that after the victory in Punjab, people suddenly became curious whether a completely new party could win in another state as well. Is. where it originated.
“Till the Punjab elections, this monopoly of BJP and Congress as major parties in most of the states was broken by AAP. The party proved that it has a message for the people and an alternative model of governance. Achieving national status within 10 years of its journey is a great achievement and we are celebrating it as well as taking it forward. We have a set platform now and are well prepared to contest elections in all the states due in 2023.”
He said that 50% of the time the state “Prabharis” (in-charge) are in their respective states where cadre-building work is going on.
Asked whether AAP is seen by many as a one-man party, Marathe said it could be a perception as it is a relatively new party and the faces of the leaders are not that established. But, if looked closely, it should be seen that Kejriwal, the party’s chief convenor, has always promoted second-line leadership, be it the case of Punjab CM Mann or Gujarat CM face Isudan Gadhvi, he said. “Moreover, it is the only party that has provided new leadership in Delhi, where most of its leaders have come from non-political backgrounds,” he added.
In its National Council meeting held on 18 December, AAP chalked out a strategy for its expansion across the country in the first such meeting after being declared a national party. “The National Council resolved to take forward the work of organization-building at the national level in the next six months. In the first phase, the work of countrywide organization expansion will be done on priority basis in the states having upcoming assembly elections.
Also, AAP has appointed its senior leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sandeep Pathak as general secretary (organisation), a post created only this year, aimed at looking after expansion works.
Party officials said that the expansion work is going on for the last two years. After the 2021 Surat municipal elections, in which the party got 20 seats, it made its way to Guwahati where it won two municipal wards, MP’s Singrauli mayor is an AAP leader, and it has two MLAs in Goa.
“It has been a big year of achievements. There were apprehensions that AAP would be confined to being a state party; it has shown its credibility by winning different elections in different states. Next year is going to be full of state elections. Preparations are already going on. In J&K also we are in news almost every day. And we will also show in new year how Delhi can be cleaned with scientific model to deal with waste is,” said AAP MLA and spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj.
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