It’s like a Friday Box- Office opening to a Rs 100-crore club. Only difference… the whole episode took place on Thursday. It has all the ingredients of a Bollywood pot- boiler… . In Punjab, for the Aam Aadmi Party, we can only say… Tera Jadu chal gaya. With this magnum win over the Grand Old Party, Kejriwal now officially becomes the Tallest Opposition leader to have won in two crucial states. Even as Yogi’s government registered its second massive consecutive win, the Man of the Moment is actually Arvind Kejriwal!
After Thursday’s win, AAP will tread cautiously and the party boss will not let any brakes on his calculated track. Instead, he should now gradually focus on two poll-bound states in November-December… that is Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.
Mamata Banerjee or rather Trinamool Congress’ May 2, 2021 Assembly win is now passé… (remember Mamata had lost in Nandigram). Time and tide waits for none. Didi was being hyped as the real challenger to take on the might of Saffron power especially after her September 30, 2021 win from Bhawanipore.
But Thursday’s matinee show changed all that. We must also take into account TMC’s futile attempt to spread into “greener vistas” like Tripura, Goa which did not yield results in real terms. Even as Exit Polls had shown that TMC was getting around three to four seats in reality till 10pm on Thursday it was still a cipher!
The recent bonhomie between KCR, MK Stalin, Mamata and their endeavour to huddle with the Mahajot in Maharashtra had a major exclusion which had hit one-and-all. However, AAP did not make a hue and cry over the same. Now that the results are out, will this conglomerate take AAP seriously? If that is not going to be the case, the combined Opposition force minus Kejriwal would be a maimed attempt to even think of looking at the might of the Saffron Party.
It is equally important for Rahul Gandhi to realise the truth and the earlier he does… it’s better for the Congress. For 2024 Lok Sabha, Kejriwal’s main task would now be to garner the non-BJP votes in the country which is little above 60 per cent. He has to cash in on these voters’ wishes who are eagerly looking at the Opposition parties for an alternative to the Saffron might.
With his success in the Delhi model and the quantum of steadiness Kejriwal has shown in maturing as a national level politician over the years, he will have to play his cards properly to at least stay afloat in the national arena as a formidable Opposition player.
With TMC… for the moment… “losing out” and the southern parties not having an appeal in the rest of the country… AAP and Kejriwal suit the script in the best manner.
