The Congress is being forced to re-strategise after an internal assessment and a few senior state party leaders are of the view that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is emerging as the “real contender” in 2022 Punjab elections, scheduled to be held on February 20.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have been the targets of Rahul Gandhi until the day before yesterday, in Jalandhar, when the Congress leader attacked AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal, asking what he had done for the people of Delhi, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has also begun attacking the AAP, calling it a “B Team of the BJP”, which don’t seem off the cuff remarks. The attacks on AAP have sharpened based on the feedback the Gandhis have received.
Just before Rahul Gandhi was to announce Channi as the Congress’s CM face in Punjab, he met senior state party leaders and asked them for their opinion. Former Punjab Congress Committee chief Sunil Jakhar had told Rahul that the AAP was the “real contender”. Not many took him seriously but an internal assessment has made the Congress leaders “nervous”. The voices for change are loud and clear, and the Congress under Channi wants to send the message that this is a new party, different from that of Captain Amarinder Singh.
Indian Youth Congress president Srinivas BV has been camping in Punjab for a week as the party has tasked him to ensure that the people are told time and again that it was the Congress, not AAP, which “helped” the people of Delhi during the ferocious second wave of Covid-19; a point, which Rahul Gandhi made at his Jalandhar rally as well.
Not only this, former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit’s son and MP Sandeep too was packed off to Chandigarh to attack the AAP. A series of interviews have been lined up with him. Besides, Alka Lamba, who had left the AAP to join back the Congress, has also been sent to Punjab.
Even the campaign slogans and video clips pushing Channi as an ‘Aam Aadmi Ka CM’ is part of Congress’ counter strategy. From playing cards, having impromptu meals with truck drivers and asking his security cordon to stay away, the Congress wants Channi to be that ‘Aam Aadmi’ whom Punjab should vote for.
But in a state, which has seen failed promises, some people on the streets told News18, “We have seen all, now we need a change. We need someone different.”
A farmer in Rupnagar said, “Channi is different. Maybe he can bring a change.”
The AAP and Kejriwal want to project themselves as the ones who can bring the change in Punjab but, in the last few days of campaigning, it is the Congress who wants to change the narrative. Fast.
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