New Delhi: The fact that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is the front and centre of the Aam Aadmi Party has never been in doubt. But in leaders like Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh, Prashant Bhushan, Yogendra Yadav, and Kumar Vishwas, the AAP had faces who were no pushovers when it came to the party’s decision-making.
On 26 November, 2012, when the AAP was formally launched as a party at a public meeting in Jantar Mantar, it was Sisodia, Kejriwal’s associate since their days of activism, who had announced the party’s name to the crowd. In many ways, Sisodia was the most natural pick as the deputy CM after the AAP formed government in Delhi.
Sanjay Singh, serving his second consecutive term as an MP in the Rajya Sabha, was the AAP’s most prominent face and voice in the Parliament. Among the founding members of the AAP, Singh, who hails from Uttar Pradesh’s Sultanpur, was also the AAP’s bridge to other players in the Opposition, due to his relations across party lines.
Kejriwal’s arrest by the Enforcement Directorate, made on Thursday night, has thrown up some questions that would not have immediately surfaced had these leaders been around. But it’s been over a year that Sisodia is in jail in the same excise policy case, in connection with which Singh was also arrested by the ED in October, 2023.
Bhushan and Yadav, meanwhile, are no longer with the AAP after a bitter parting of ways over charges of them indulging in “anti-party activities”, and Vishwas is among the most bitter critics of Kejriwal today. It is no surprise then that the biggest question staring the AAP in the face is who will steer it in Kejriwal’s absence.
“Arvind Kejriwal was, is, and will remain the chief minister of Delhi. If needed, he will run the government from Tihar. He has not been convicted. There is no bar on him continuing as the CM. There are no two ways about it,” Delhi Education Minister Atishi told reporters Thursday, soon after Kejriwal’s arrest — reiterating its previously declared position.
Sisodia had resigned as the deputy CM two days after his arrest, following the Supreme Court’s refusal to grant him relief. Satyendar Jain, who was arrested in a separate money laundering case in May 2022, had also resigned on the same day.
The AAP is aware that by retaining Kejriwal as the CM, it may be paving the way for the imposition of President’s Rule in Delhi under 239AB of the Constitution of India which empowers the President to dismiss the government in Delhi on grounds “that a situation has arisen in which the administration of the National Capital Territory cannot be carried on in accordance with the provisions of article 239AA or of any law made in pursuance of that article”.
“But the leadership feels that the AAP stands to gain if the BJP takes the bait. The fact remains that Kejriwal is an overwhelmingly popular face among the masses who have benefited from his subsidy policies on electricity, water, transport, and the improvement of schools. Dismissing a government that enjoys the support of 62 MLAs in a 70-member assembly is not the same as dismissing a government that is hanging by the thread,” said a senior AAP leader.
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AAP’s options
It’s not as if the AAP leadership did not explore other options — like ensuring that a new legislative party leader is in place like Champai Soren in Jharkhand — once it became clear that Kejriwal’s arrest was only a matter of time. Following the arrest of Sisodia, and Jain, Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj, who were inducted as ministers, emerged as the faces and troubleshooters of the Delhi administration, overshadowing their senior colleagues Gopal Rai and Kailash Gehlot.
Rai remains the AAP’s Delhi unit chief. But it was increasingly clear that Atishi was being groomed as a possible successor if Kejriwal, who holds no portfolio as CM, were to step down. From finance to education to revenue to vigilance, Atishi, a first-time MLA and the sole woman face in the Delhi Cabinet, handles as many as 14 portfolios.
The hours that have followed Kejriwal’s arrest have been no exception, with Atishi and Bharadwaj leading protests against the ED’s move. Both were detained by the Delhi Police during the day.
But the AAP’s genesis, rooted in street protests, mass protests, held not so long ago on the streets of Delhi, is also one reason why its nimble-footed leadership is confident of making the most out of the opportunity that this situation presents.
“We have made statements such as Kejriwal running the government from Delhi. We will be sending files to Tihar if needed. By doing so, if not anything else, we will dominate the political discourse, the airwaves,” said an AAP functionary. But whether Kejriwal retains chief ministership or not, political decision-making — especially in the runup to the polls — will be a challenge for a one-man party that AAP has increasingly become over the years.
Out of nine members in AAP’s Political Affairs Committee, its highest decision-making body, two — Sisodia and Singh — are in jail, while Kejriwal is in ED custody. Atishi, Raghav Chadha, Durgesh Pathak, Gopal Rai, Imran Hussain, Rakhi Birla, Pankaj Gupta, and ND Gupta are the remaining members of the PAC.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is among the party’s tallest leaders but AAP’s political path in the state, where it’s a rival to the Congress, makes him unsuitable to lead the party at a time when it is a major constituent of the Opposition’s INDIA bloc.
In December, the AAP tried to get Chadha, who is currently in London on a private visit, appointed as its interim party leader in Rajya Sabha in the absence of Sanjay Singh, but the request was turned down by Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar. Although he participated in some meetings of the INDIA bloc, Chadha’s not-so-deep involvement in the party’s affairs has lately been a matter of discussion in political circles.
AAP national secretary (organisation) Sandeep Pathak is primarily looking after the party’s national expansion and handles its state units.
Overall, what the AAP has now are leaders with specific responsibilities but lacks one with the stature to command unquestioned loyalty.
The AAP, however, insists that it is not too perturbed.
“We will collectively run the party. If he can be the CM in jail, he can very well run the part, and lead us as well,” a Delhi government minister who didn’t want to be named told ThePrint.
This is an updated version of this report