Haryana AAP banking on caste math

Deepender Deswal

Tribune News Service

Hisar, February 14

After strengthening its cadre base in Delhi and Punjab, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is eyeing Haryana as its next destination in north India. Party national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has set a poll plank by promising Delhi-like government facilities of schools and hospitals in Haryana.

As upstart, the AAP had contested 10 seats in 2014 and secured just over 4 per cent votes. While its then state incharge Yogendra Yadav received 79,452 votes in Gurugram, party nominees in Faridabad, Ambala, Sirsa, Rohtak and Sonepat LS seats too secured over 45,000 votes each. Five years down the line, the party seems to have also realised the ground realities of politics, especially in Haryana’s caste-ridden scenario.

Political experts said, “The AAP is trying to engineer a caste combination in Haryana. It sent two persons having roots in Haryana to the Rajya Sabha. The RS members, ND Gupta of Bhiwani town and Sushil Gupta of Jind district, have been actively involved in strengthening the cadre in Haryana for about a year now.”

Political expert Pawan Kumar Bansal claims that the alliance of Kejriwal’s AAP and Dushyant Chautala’s JJP can be a formidable combination in the upcoming polls.

He said if the two parties were able to translate the tie-up in votes, it would hurt both BJP and Congress.

“Both leaders, Kejriwal and Dushyant, are a hit among the youth and have clean images,” he added.

Besides, AAP also has two advantages in Haryana. One, the party has its supremo Kejriwal as well as eight MLAs in the Delhi Assembly from Haryana. Secondly, a large number of employees and traders visit Delhi almost on daily basis and obviously get political vibes from the national capital which is a stronghold of the AAP. Gurgaon, Faridabad, Sonepat, Rohtak, Jhajjar, Rewari, Panipat and Bhiwani are part of the NCR, where people have regular socio-economic links in Delhi.

AAP Haryana incharge Naveen Jaihind reiterated: “The AAP is ready for alliance with parties with clean image, except the trio of CBI (Congress, BJP and INLD). We are getting good response across the state. We will soon start the process to scrutinise the potential candidates with clean image.”

Rajya Sabha members with state roots

• Narain Dass Gupta from Bhiwani town
• Sushil Gupta from Shamlo Kalan village in Jind district