The Aam Aadmi Party has sought a progress report from its five MLAs in Gujarat. Party chief Arvind Kejrwal’s post on X, termed it “politics of work”.
A video accompanying it showed him and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann doing a stock-taking with the MLAs. The caption claimed it was a first in India.
“Aam Aadmi Party has started the politics of work in the country. During our visit to Gujarat, our MLAs from Gujarat told what work they did in one year. In the last one year, he has done a lot of work for the public regarding education, health, electricity, water, roads. I and Bhagwant Mann ji sat with the MLAs and discussed their work in detail,” read a rough translation of Kejriwal’s post.
The video shows the MLAs discussing the status of education and health — AAP’s spearhead in Delhi and Punjab — in their constituencies.
The party had run a huge campaign in the state ahead of the 2022 assembly election and managed to find a toehold.
The video appears a precursor of AAP’s national ambitions. In the preliminary seat-sharing talks with the Congress, the party had raised the issue of contesting from three other states: Goa and Gujarat, where it has a presence, and Haryana, the next logical target after Punjab.
With a string of leaders focussing on the state, AAP matched the BJP in terms of visibility and optics.
While focusing on the urban middle class and the underprivileged, Mr Kejriwal’s move to invite a Dalit family for a meal at his home and flying them to Delhi had made headlines.
The seat-sharing talks between AAP and the Congress are proving contentious. While the Congress wants 4 seats in Delhi and seven seats in Punjab, AAP is not ready to oblige.
In both Delhi and Punjab, the ruling party wants the bigger share of seats — if any are to be shared at all. Sources in the Punjab units of the two parties say neither is ready for an alliance in the state.
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