By Mumtaz Alam, India Tomorrow,
New Delhi, 19 Feb 2014: If one reads into the first list of Lok Sabha candidates of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), one can get closer to the intention and strategy of Arvind Kejriwal, the party chief. The list reveals more about Kejriwal and AAP than hides.
The list announced by Kejriwal on 16 Feb covers 20 Lok Sabha constituencies spreading in eight states – most of the seats are in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Delhi.
First have a look at the facts:
— Of 20 candidates, 13 have been fielded against Congress.
— 2 candidates each were fielded against Nationalist Congress Party of Sharad Pawar – an ally of Congress both at the centre and Maharashtra, and BSP.
— Only 1 candidate has been fielded against BJP.
— One each against SP and RLD.
— AAP fields candidate against Rahul Gandhi, unannounced prime ministerial candidate of Congress, but has not fielded any against Narendra Modi, the official prime ministerial candidate of BJP
Questions arise:
Why does Kejriwal appear harsher against Congress and a bit soft for BJP?
Is he really soft for BJP or whatever he is doing is just part of his strategy?
Through the first list, does Kejriwal want to tell he would take revenge against some politicians?
However, what raises more eyebrows is Kejriwal not fielding any candidate against Modi.
“It is surprising that AAP has not fielded its candidate against Modi and it certainly raises questions about its intention,” says Mohammad Salim Engineer and gives a suggestion to the party.
“If AAP really wants to change the politics of the country then it must build an unbiased image for itself. The first list shows AAP is harsher against Congress and soft on BJP. This will certainly damage its credibility,” adds the Jaipur-based academician who is also secretary of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind.
Kejriwal should have at least announced that he will field candidate against Modi also, he further says.
Abhishek Chola, social activist in New Delhi, criticizes Kejriwal from different aspects.
“None of the 20 candidates announced have filed papers. They were never in the picture of the movement,” claims Chola and sharpens his attack in next line.
“The party is not taking national interest into consideration. It claims to be a party of common people but giving tickets to high-profile people and eminent personalities,” says Chola.
However, on AAP’s harsher attitude for Congress and softer one for BJP, Chola has a view different from that of Salim Engineer.
“As the central government today is being led by Congress AAP is attacking this party more than BJP,” says Chola but when asked why AAP fielded candidate against Rahul but none against Modi, Chola goes silent admitting it’s a tough question for him and also for Kejriwal to answer.
The AAP list can be looked at from one more aspect. It seems party chief Kejriwal wants to take revenge from some politicians with whom he has clashed or had hard talks in the past.
For example, he has fielded a candidate against External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid in Farrukhabad of Uttar Pradesh. Kerjiwal had made corruption allegations against Khurshid resulting in a hot oral clash between the two. Kejriwal even held a rally in Farrukhabad which was attacked by Congress members and supporters of Khurshid.
However, many observe a strategy of Kejriwal behind not taking tough postures against BJP or Modi. It is said that Kejriwal does not want to do anything, at least at this moment, which creates a playground for Modi to play a communal game and takes the voters away from AAP. The observation could be correct.
AAP’s first list of LS candidates
S.No.
Incumbent MP
Party
State
LS Constituency
AAP Candidate
1
Kapil Sibal
INC
Delhi
Chandni Chowk
Ashutosh
2
Salman Khurshid
INC
UP
Farukkhabad
Mukul Tripathi
3
Mulayam Singh Yadav
SP
UP
Mainpuri
Baba Hardev
4
Suresh Kalmadi
INC
Maharashtra
Pune
Subash Ware
5
Nitin Gadkari
BJP
Maharashtra
Nagpur
Anjali Damania
6
Ajit Singh
RLD
UP
Baghpath
Soumendra Dhaka
7
Mahabal Mishra
INC
Delhi
West Delhi
Jarnail Singh
8
Dr. Baliram
BSP
UP
Lalganj (SC)
Dr. Jiyalal Ra
9
Rahul Gandhi
INC
UP
Amethi
Kumar Vishwas
10
Inderjit Singh
INC
Haryana
Gurgaon
Yogendra Yadav
11
Ad.Kamat Gurudas Vasant
INC
Maharashtra
Mumbai North West
Mayank Gandhi
12
Sanjay Dina Patil
NCP
Maharashtra
Mumbai North East
Medha Patkhar
13
Milind Murli Deora
INC
Maharashtra
Mumbai South
Meera Sanyal
14
Takam Sanjoy
INC
Arunachal
Arunachal West
Habung Payeng
15
Sameer Bhujbal
NCP
Maharashtra
Nashik
Vijay Baliram Pandhare
16
Arun Subhashchandra Yadav
INC
MP
Khandwa
Alok Aggarwal
17
Sanjay Bhoi
INC
Odisha
Bargarh
Lingraj
18
Manish Tewari
INC
Punjab
Ludhiana
Harvinder Singh Phoolka
19
Jagdish Singh Rana
BSP
UP
Saharanpur
Yogesh Dahiya
20
Mohammed Azharuddin
INC
UP
Moradabad
Khalid Parvaiz
—–
Follow the writer on Twitter @MumtazAlam1978
