Fed up with traditional political parties, did ‘Aam Aadmi’ see a natural alternative in AAP?

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Was the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) a natural choice of Punjabi voters or did their disillusionment from the traditional behemoth political parties, including Congress, SAD(B) and BJP due to their incompetence and presumptuous attitude led to AAP’s tsunami?

Traditionally, the political power in Punjab had been moving between Congress and SAD(B)-BJP combine for past over six decades, which over the years, made these parties irrelevance thus creating a trust deficit between their leaders and public which was filled by AAP’s leadership that gave them a third option to choose.

The failure of conventional political parties to read the writing on the wall, not only resulted in the failure of their leadership to consolidate their vote bank but also eroded their core support base over the years.

Akali’s rant of Panthic crisis in the state, Congress party’s self eulogising of Punjab vision, and BJP’s promise of all-round development coupled with assurances of doling out of freebies by almost all the political parties (including AAP) ahead of 2022 assembly elections failed to impress the voters of Punjab who chose to prefer the  unacquainted and unseen Delhi model of Arvind Kejriwal which was widely publicised by AAP’s leadership during election campaign.

The humiliating defeat of heavyweights like former chief ministers of Punjab including Parkash Singh Badal, Captain Amarinder Singh, Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Navjot Singh Sidhu, chief minister Charanjit SIngh Channi, deputy chief minister O P Soni, former Akali minister popularly known as ‘Majhae-da-Jarnail’ Bikram SIngh Majithia etc. on the  hands of debutant AAP candidates is self-explanatory of people’s disenchantment from traditional political leadership.

Congress leadership in Punjab has already held indiscipline and biased ticket distribution responsible for the party’s worst-ever electoral performance.

In the words of the party’s Lok Sabha MP from Khadur Sahib Jasbir Singh Gill Dimpa,  “Congress high command should review the allotment of tickets and fix responsibility and make those leaders accountable who got tickets for their protégés for cash or kind ignoring merit and winability of genuine, hard-working, loyal and honest Congressmen”.

Similarly, another Congress Lok Sabha MP from Amritsar says that the alleged indiscipline in the party is responsible for the defeat of candidates.  

Giving example he said, “If Charanjit Singh Channi did some people-friendly tasks, instead of getting the appreciation he was condemned which was not liked by party workers and leaders alike,” he said.

Navjot Singh Sidhu, who lost to political novice Jeevanjot Kaur, also known as Pad Woman of Punjab due to her work in women’s menstrual health, said, “Thank you so much, it is people’s victory, a victory of common people who have welcomed Arvind Kejriwal’s tried model of good governance in Delhi” .

While refusing to go into details of the party’s debacle, Sidhu, on the other hand,  maintains that he would continue to fight against the faulty system. He said his best wishes were with AAP and hoped that they would come up to the expectations of common people who voted them to power.