With focus shifting to states that are poll-bound, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) after its stupendous performance in Punjab has started laying groundwork in neighbouring Himachal Pradesh. Both BJP and Congress are concerned that the Arvind Kejriwal-led party could poach their leaders.
The party had recently announced plans not just to contest municipal polls, but assembly elections due at the end of the year. Subsequently, senior AAP leaders have started touring Himachal Pradesh to strengthen the party’s base.
Party sources said teams from Delhi were touring Kangra and other districts of lower Himachal Pradesh and meeting different leaders interested in joining the party. They said a two-member team was meeting prominent people in the region and other districts. After scouting for an effective local leader, the team is asking the person to come for interviews, sources added.
Their inclusion in the party is being finalised and their names are being kept secret, as the party wants to make them public during Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s visit, sources said.
Sources further said many disgruntled leaders from BJP and Congress have met these teams, and many of them were expected to join the AAP when Kejriwal tours the state.
Among those expected to join is prominent leader Naresh Varmani from Kangra. Sources also said the party had drawn out an elaborate strategy for the hill state. The party believes there is anti-incumbency for the Jai Ram Thakur-led government, while there is serious infighting in the Congress, sources added.
This may give the AAP a realistic chance to make a mark in the polls. “Both these parties have exposed their vulnerabilities and people in the hill state are craving for a strong alternative. The AAP can fill that slot,” said an AAP leader, on condition of anonymity.
The AAP’s drive to poach leaders is a worrying factor for both parties. The Congress has lost senior leaders Virbhadra Singh and GS Bali, and is faction-ridden in the lower Himachal area.
The Congress has been found wanting to quell dissension and no leader from the party has been entrusted with the responsibility to keep the flock together. “At least, we can try to fill the slot of an effective opposition, if not emerge number one,” commented a party leader on condition of anonymity.
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