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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  Despite infighting, AAP’s voter base continues to support party
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Despite infighting, AAP’s voter base continues to support party

Voters are miffed at the delay, caused in part by the intra-party rift, in delivering on electoral promises

Madhu Nahoriya (centre) of Madangir in Khanpur says Arvind Kejriwal is the only leader who still thinks about the poor. Photo: Ramesh Pathania/MintPremium
Madhu Nahoriya (centre) of Madangir in Khanpur says Arvind Kejriwal is the only leader who still thinks about the poor. Photo: Ramesh Pathania/Mint

New Delhi: Even as infighting in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) continues to dominate headlines, the party’s core voter base is opting to give it the benefit of doubt.

Rather, voters are miffed at the delay, caused in part by the intra-party rift, in delivering on electoral promises—particularly on drinking water and cheaper electricity.

AAP has drawn its strength from the economically less well-off voters—what economists call the bottom of the pyramid.

Interviews conducted among a cross-section of people by Mint reveal that this segment continues to back the party.

On the other hand a recent Instavaani poll, which included the middle-class, showed that respondents are having a rethink on both Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and the AAP.

Its spectacular win in the Delhi assembly elections in February, winning 67 out of 70 seats, was fashioned by crafting and managing a rainbow coalition across income classes—drawing supporters such as 37-year-old Madhu Nahoriya, a resident of Ambedkar Nagar constituency in Delhi. She has been a supporter of the AAP since she first heard the national convener Kejriwal address voters in one of his radio advertisements in 2013.

“This is not the first time that a fight is happening in a political party. There have been several such incidents in other parties as well. They are a new party. It does not take away from the fact that he is the only leader who still thinks about the poor," Nahoriya said.

Ambedkar Nagar—one of the 12 constituencies reserved for scheduled-caste candidates—has become a stronghold of the AAP.

Here, Ajay Dutt of the AAP won by a margin of over 42,000 votes. Dutt beat former MLA Ashok Kumar of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who had won from the constituency on an AAP ticket in 2013.

Ambedkar Nagar was also one of the five constituencies where Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a rally in the run-up to the assembly elections.

AAP has been embroiled in one controversy after another since February-end. Amid allegations of lack of internal democracy and transparency, a section of the party attempted to replace Kejriwal as the national convenor.

Deepak (last name not revealed), 40, who runs an electrical repair shop in the same neighbourhood of Delhi, said: “The fight in the party is just for conversation. It doesn’t have any effect on our daily lives. It is important to give a new person a chance." If assembly elections were to be held once again today, Deepak said he would still be voting for the AAP.

Sanjay Kumar, director at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), a Delhi-based research institute, agrees that the infighting has had very little impact on the voter base.

“There has been a negligible effect on the voters in Delhi. Most of the AAP supporters in Delhi are behind Arvind Kejriwal and his team. They have a majority government here. It is outside Delhi where the electoral base will be affected," said Kumar.

Outside Delhi, the AAP has four members of Parliament from Punjab. The national executive has formed a committee under senior leader Sanjay Singh to ascertain the current organizational status in different states.

The committee will submit a report that will be the basis for the road ahead including preparation for contesting the state elections.

At Ambedkar Nagar, there also were those who questioned the Delhi government’s delay in delivering on the AAP’s development promises.

Kapil Sharma, a 24-year-old who runs a small water-refill business, said: “We voted for the AAP because they promised to make a difference. Last time they couldn’t because they didn’t have full majority. But this time, they have no excuses. We have voted them in full majority. Truthfully, nothing has changed. Clearly, the infighting is having an effect on the functioning of the government because there has been no change in the way things are."

Not willing to write off the party just yet, Sharma added, “We gave the Congress 15 years (in Delhi). It is only fair to give the AAP, a new party, at least five years to deliver on their promises. If they don’t do anything in that period, then we will have to think about our options."

Sanjay Kumar said, “The kind of expectation generated by the party is correlated with the people’s sentiments. If the party had not made the kind of promises it did, people would have waited. The problem is that Kejriwal has promised and people are not ready to wait."

The infighting has led to the expulsion of four founder-members, including Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan, from all executive bodies—the political affairs committee, national executive and disciplinary committee—of the party.

Yadav and Bhushan are now planning to meet their supporters on 14 April to consider their future course of action.

Acting on one of its election promises, the Delhi government on Tuesday began the process of regularizing 1,650 unauthorized colonies.

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Published: 31 Mar 2015, 11:58 PM IST
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