Congress’ AAP conundrum

Anil Anand
Notwithstanding his short political life Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal is the shrewdest guy on the country’s political horizon. In a short-span of life he has not only learnt shifting goal-posts with effortless ease- Lok Pal and Lok Ayukta being the most glaring examples- but also mastered the art of upstaging his much more fancied rivals and friends in politics.
So, when he embarked on a nationwide tour to personally contact the chief ministers of non-BJP ruled friendly parties and senior opposition leaders to garner support for stalling in Parliament the Bill to replace Ordinance that takes away AAP Government’s powers regarding service matters, he had a much bigger mission at hand. It extends well-beyond the Ordinance and he has his sight set on the 2024 Lok Sabha election and the whirlwind tour crafted to create a leadership space for himself in the opposition unity block.
He might have covered his real mission under the veil of Ordinance but he let his mind speak even before he embarked on this mission. Driving home significance of unitedly stalling the Bill, he said it will lay the platform for wider opposition unity for which he pressed for Congress’s support. He went out of his way to seek appointment from Congress president Malikarjun Kharge and former MP, Rahul Gandhi to bring the grand old party in line with his mission.
Although there are no permanent friends or enemies in politics but the brand of electoral politics pursued by him during the last few years takes the issue beyond this proverbial dictum. This was reflected in states such as Gujarat, Goa and Punjab apart from Delhi where the AAP presence directly helped the BJP. The question arises should Mr Kejriwal had made an effort for an alliance in these state assembly elections? So, why the sudden need to elicit Congress support to stall the Bill in Parliament?
Intriguingly, a narrative is being built directly relating Congress support on Ordinance issue to the opposition unity. An impression has sought to be created by Mr Kejriwal and his like-minded leaders who are in some manner inimical to Congress’s growth or playing a central role without making sacrifices which none of them is prepared for, heaping entire responsibility on Congress.
The AAP is on record having already declared that it will contest all coming assembly and civic elections even in states where it has no presence without reflecting on the idea of an alliance. In the coming set of assembly elections two states Chattisgarh and Rajasthan are ruled by Congress and in the third important state of Madhya Pradesh the party could gain only thin majority due to AAP cutting into its votes, the same story was repeated in Gujarat’s tribal areas resulting in Congress losing badly, which it lost to subsequent defections. Ultimately, helping BJP to form the Government again.
This apart, West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Miss Mamta Banerjee immediately reacting to Congress’s scintillating victory in Karnataka mooted the idea of the party leaving West Bengal to her and suo motu earmarked 200 Lok Sabha seats for a direct contest between Congress and BJP. Regarding other opposition ruled states governed by Congress participated alliance Governments she left it to them to decide the issue among themselves.
It will be interesting to know Mr Kejriwal’s stand on how he will deal with Congress say in states such as Delhi and Punjab ruled by AAP and elsewhere where Congress is in a strong position. This has to be juxtaposed with the AAP’s declared intent to contest all coming elections.
Thus begins the Congress’s AAP conundrum. Should the party unconditionally join the Kejriwal bandwagon on Ordinance issue in the name of opposition unity? Or should the party, in the aftermath of Karnataka victory, weigh its options and wait for an opportune time for opposition unity?
Congress being the only national party with pan-India presence after BJP, cannot afford to get itself undermined by fellow opposition parties. Miss Banerjee’s proposal to limit Congress to 200 seats and leaving the rest over 300, without West Bengal, up for grabs and still a non-committal Mr Kejriwal, makes things complicated rather than smoothening the way for unity.
Mr Kejriwal is well within his rights to safeguard his political interests and expand his base. So is Miss Banerjee and others. However, it is surprising that they use a different yardstick when it comes to Congress and rather portray the party as a stumbling block.
In this backdrop the AAP chief hopping from state to state to seek support against the Ordinance and in the same breath talking and discussing opposition unity, creates serious doubt. The outcome was the Congress’s Delhi and Punjab leaders rushing to the high command pleading against having any truck with Mr Kejriwal. This they felt would be detrimental to the party’s cause.
The onus lies on AAP to end the conundrum rather than the Congress. The party has recently acquired the national status but the fact remains that Congress has a wider reach and that the AAP under its current plan is seeking to undermine Congress to expand its base. Arriving at a broader understanding over opposition unity would require a sense of accommodation rather than cutting into each other’s base.
There are no free lunches more so in politics. The support on Ordinance issue must come at a price or else Mr Kejriwal should detach it from opposition unity as he seemed to have segregated the assembly elections from the Lok Sabha polls. The ploy should be to honestly admit the strong points and areas of strength of each other rather than undermining.
It was on May 19 last that the Central Government had promulgated an ordinance, the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) (Amendment) Ordinance, 2023. Under this a new statutory authority- the National Capital Civil Services Authority (NCCSA)- headed by the chief minister and two IAS officers, has been created to decide all matters related to transfer and posting of bureaucrats in the national capital by a majority vote.
Delhi, being the national capital city also, is not a full-state despite having an assembly under the present Constitutional scheme of things. Mr Kejriwal had earlier raised demand for full statehood and now the Ordinance controversy has given him a handle to play politics on a wider national canvas.
For a political party which first contested its first election in 2013 in Delhi under Mr Kejriwal could not get majority. But soon he returned with resounding success which the party repeated a second time after five years.
So, the significance of Mr Kejriwal and his national ambitions.

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