Bhubaneswar: Aam Aadmi Party, its leader Arvind Kejriwal and Bharatiya Janata Party have challenges before them at present. Kejriwal is trying to save and run the government of Punjab and the challenge in front of Bharatiya Janata Party is to oust the AAP from power in Punjab where the Congress has become weak.
Arvind Kejriwal has realized that his position in Delhi is not very good. He may not have expected that he will lose the Assembly election. But he must have estimated that he may not get majority in the election. That is why three to four months before the Delhi elections, he sent his most trusted person Vibhav Kumar, who had beaten up a female MP, to Punjab. Vibhav is reportedly staying in the official residence of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann. But there is no official confirmation about it. But he is working as the super Chief Minister. Vibhav is the link between Kejriwal and Punjab administration. What will happen to Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwat Singh Mann is not yet clear. The back seat driving will be done by Kejriwal in any way.
Kejriwal is now convinced that he cannot become the Chief Minister of Punjab under any circumstances being a non-Sikh. He is scared of the kind of explosion that will happen if he attempts it. Hence he sent Vibhav Kumar and virtually dictates as to how Punjab government be run. Now the challenge before Arvind Kejriwal is that the government should complete its entire term and not fall in between because he has only one state to exert influence and gather resources to run the party.
The Congress is almost routed in the border state. Though there are few Congress leaders who can fund the party, they are not keen to do so.
Aam Aadmi Party also faced the same situation. Hence, an opportunity lurks before the BJP to oust AAP and Arvind Kejriwal. has the challenge of saving Punjab but will he be able to save it and the challenge before BJP is to oust the Aam Aadmi Party from Punjab. The BJP feels that this is the opportunity to strike first, so whoever takes the initiative will benefit from it. It can happen in the next few months– before or after the Bihar elections and a big political change is likely in Punjab.
The way Arvind Kejriwal has insulted Bhagwant Singh Mann, it is very difficult to say for how long Bhagwant Singh Mann will support Arvind Kejriwal. It is a different matter that when it comes to MLAs, Bhagwant Singh Mann is not going to get any major support. Even today, Arvind Kejriwal dominates there, but for how long.The MLAs are more worried about the next elections than the government. If those MLAs feel that they are not going to win the next election on the AAP symbol, they could start looking for opportunity elsewhere.
The main reason for this will be due to two things – internal conflict of Aam Aadmi Party and excessive ambition of Arvind Kejriwal.The third thing is Arvind Kejriwal’s ego is still intact in Punjab. In Delhi, the ego has been shattered but in Punjab, he is the biggest force with a government with a huge majority. But despite all his efforts Kejriwal has not been able vacate a single Rajya Sabha seat from Punjab.
Earlier he wanted to send Abhishek Manu Singhvi to Rajya Sabha. For that, Swati Maliwal’s seat was being considered in Delhi. But that did not happen. The same thing happened in Punjab also but that also did not materialise. Finally, Singvi got elected from Telangana on a congress ticket.
Both Arvind Kejriwal’s influence and mass base are falling very fast and very soon for him. The question of political survival is also going to come up soon.
