Rebel Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders will hold their first Swarajya Samvad meeting outside New Delhi, in Bengaluru on Wednesday. Expelled AAP leader Yogendra Yadav, who is in the city, will attend the meeting. Speaking to The Hindu, he said, “AAP leadership has done gross injustice to the potential the movement had in Karnataka and Kerala.”
Even before you joined AAP you believed in working with the system to bring changes. Now that you are an ‘AAP rebel’, do you believe in working with another political party? You shared the stage with Sitaram Yechury on Tuesday?
Given that the AAP has failed to live up to its promise, my political journey cannot continue with any existing political force. Even earlier, I have shared the stage with other political leaders on the basis of issues like land acquisition. Our aim is to create a new model, new political energy and take forward the original political spirit that led to the AAP.
Arvind Kejriwal was the mascot of AAP; other leaders of the party were hardly known in cities like Bengaluru. Who do you believe will be the face of the party here or in south India?
I believe movements throw up leaders and not vice-versa. One of our biggest differences with the AAP was that it had become a regional party in Delhi and there was little space in the leadership for those beyond Delhi and Punjab. For instance, no one from south India was in the PAC. We believe AAP failed to build its national potential and failed to channelise the enthusiasm, especially in Karnataka and Kerala.
Do you think it lost out on that potential, in a city like Bengaluru?
They did gross injustice to the national potential and enthusiasm of people from several places like Bengaluru. The national leadership neglected this issue and had become a “Delhi party”. This was one of the key issues that led to our exit.
Given that you are holding your Swarajya Samvad for the first time outside Delhi, do you have a Bengaluru-specific plan? What do you think will be the city’s role in the new campaign?
To be honest, AAP Bengaluru has been outstanding, but since the party will expel any office-bearer who attends our meeting, we are not sure how many will attend. We have requested our colleagues not to disrupt AAP’s plans if they have one for Bengaluru. We do not believe in causing ruptures and our effort is to take forward our principles. Bengaluru is a truly cosmopolitan city and anyone who wants to create new political energy will look to Bengaluru. We expect to get support and ideas from the city as we evolve a new agenda for India.
