The ruling Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi seems to have chosen to not go down the confrontation path with Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena. Instead, the approach will be to keep the focus on highlighting the government’s achievements in the welfare and education sectors.
The decision to not get into daily fights with the Central government-appointed L-G is based on the need to reconfigure its relationship with him, and how they want the people of Delhi to perceive AAP, party leaders told The Hindu.
The latest flashpoint between the two is the L-G’s permission for a CBI probe into Delhi’s excise policy, putting senior AAP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who heads the Excise Department, in the line of direct fire. Mr. Saxena also denied permission to the Chief Minister to attend a global summit in Singapore.
The possibility of Mr. Sisodia facing prosecution has also prompted the party to start pushing the narrative of “education revolution”, a party leader said.
“The L-G wants us to fight with him, like we did between 2015 and 2018. But it had a negative impact on us and we realised it was a mistake. They want us to react like that and fall into their trap, but we won’t,” an AAP leader told The Hindu.
Confirming this, another party leader said the decision to not openly go for a war with the L-G was taken by the “top leadership”.
The change could be noticed in Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s statement too. Soon after his first meeting with the L-G after the probe into the new excise policy was announced, Mr. Kejriwal declared that there was “no fallout” between the two.
“It is important that both the CM and L-G work together for the development of the city. There may be a difference of opinion between us, but there has been no fallout,” Mr. Kejriwal had said.
This is in contrast to what happened in 2018, when soon after allegations of AAP leaders assaulting the then Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash and protests by bureaucrats, Mr. Kejriwal and three other Cabinet Ministers staged a protest in the visitors’ room of the then L-G Anil Baijal’s residence. They even slept on the couch at Raj Niwas during the night.
But there has been no protest on the ground by AAP against Mr. Saxena. “We are already going to the people and telling them that ‘your right is being taken away’ and ‘the BJP is undermining the power of your vote’. We are trying to telling them that it is an attack on them,” said the AAP leader. “We are conveying this to them during RWA meetings and through WhatsApp groups,” he added.
Attack on Sisodia
Both leaders said they could not rule out “BJP putting” Mr. Sisodia behind bars. As of now, there is no particular plan to deal with such an eventuality other than taking the issue to the people, he said.
“If they put Sisodia behind bars, they will make us martyrs. Do you think people are going to believe that he is corrupt? If he is corrupt, then which politician in India is honest?” the leader asked.
When asked that a section of the people could believe that there is some sort of corruption if he is put behind bars, the leader, said, “Obviously, there are people who already think this is true. That is because of BJP’s messaging. But we need only 40-50% votes to win an election, and that many people will understand that he is innocent.”
But the second leader said that the party has already started working towards it.
“If you notice our messaging in the recent past, there is stress on education and Sisodia’s contribution in Delhi’s education revolution. We want to reinforce in the people’s minds the work we have done,” the leader said.
For instance, a day after L-G’s permission for the CBI probe, the Chief Minister in a video statement announced a “mega mission” to help every youth in the Capital speak fluent English.
In the past week, the government rolled out programmes connected with the education sector on four days including the Happiness Utsav and Mr. Sisodia interacting with government school teachers from Punjab.
Asked how AAP would deal with the possibility of Delhi being made a Union Territory without an Assembly, as hinted by the Chief Minister, the first leader said, “We are working hard to expand in other States too. To win Punjab in 2022, we had started work from 2014. Similarly, to win two seats in Goa, we were working from 2017. In the next 10-15 years, we will win more States and then Delhi will be too small compared to them. What will the BJP do then?”
