New Delhi: Struggling to rebuild its organisational base in Himachal Pradesh after back-to-back defections to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has sent a group of 1,360 Delhi-based volunteers to carry out a month-long outreach programme, ahead of the assembly polls later this year.
After its thumping victory in Punjab in March this year, the AAP has now set its eyes on assembly polls in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, which are likely to be held in November-December. In Himachal, the AAP plans to field candidates in all 68 seats.
A senior AAP functionary told ThePrint Tuesday that the volunteers have been assigned three primary tasks. “First, they are supposed to spread the message of AAP’s model of governance, with its focus on improving schools, healthcare facilities, water supply, and welfare schemes,” the functionary said.
“Second, they are required to record feedback from people and help in the party’s internal surveys. And third, they are supposed to encourage more people in the state to join the AAP as volunteers and party workers,” he added.
Also Read: ‘Khalistan’ rears its head in Himachal after threat by banned outfit Sikhs for Justice
The defections to BJP
On 9 April, AAP’s Himachal Pradesh unit president Anoop Kesari, organisational general secretary Satish Thakur and Una unit president Iqbal Singh joined the BJP in the presence of the ruling party’s national president J.P. Nadda and Union minister Anurag Thakur — both of whom hail from the stat.
This happened three days after AAP national convener and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, along with Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, took part in a roadshow in Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi. Kesari, while joining the BJP, said he felt he was “overlooked” by the AAP’s top leadership, especially during the Mandi roadshow.
Soon after the defections, AAP leader and Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia said the party had already made up its mind about terminating Kesari’s membership over complaints against him of making “anti-women” remarks.
On 11 April, five more senior office-bearers of the Himachal AAP joined the BJP, along with hundreds of supporters, forcing the party to dissolve all of its operational units in the state and focus on re-building its organisational structure.
However, Durgesh Pathak, AAP’s in-charge for Himachal Pradesh, believes the desertions will do little to dent the party’s prospects in the state.
“We are a party which believes in the politics of development. We are very much capable of building our organisational base and winning elections without incompetent leaders,” Pathak, who is seen as a close aide of Kejriwal, told ThePrint.
“At this stage, our objective is to be visible across towns and villages in the state, take the message of AAP’s governance model in those areas across districts and encourage more and more people in those towns and villages to join the AAP as workers, volunteers and supporters. For that, hundreds of volunteers are working day and night in Himachal Pradesh,” he added.
‘Starting from scratch’
The over 1,000 AAP volunteers chosen for the outreach programme arrived in Himachal Pradesh between 1 and 7 May for their month-long stay. “They have been entrusted with going door-to-door across towns and villages in all 12 districts of Himachal Pradesh in smaller batches,” the senior AAP leader said.
Laxminarayan Prasad, an AAP volunteer who left for Kinnaur district on 6 May along with a team of 21 others, told ThePrint: “There is a lot of work that is to be done in one month. If you look at the situation, we are starting from scratch. It is a crisis but we are sure that we will overcome this crisis.”
A Delhi-based senior AAP functionary, who did not wish to be named, said the desertion of old hands in the state has come as a major blow to the party’s eight-year effort to expand its footprint in Himachal Pradesh.
Defections at this juncture necessitated last-minute strategies, among them being the decision to send 1,360 volunteers to the state on such short notice. Another batch of volunteers will likely be sent to the hill-state in the days to come.
AAP’s 49 municipal councillors in Delhi have also been asked to spend time in Himachal Pradesh, in batches over the next two months, to help rebuild the state unit, the senior functionary, who is part of AAP’s national expansion drive, said.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
Also Read: Kejriwal didn’t promise freebies to women of HP, viral image photoshopped picture from 2015