Arvind Kejriwal banks on internal rifts in Congress, BJP in Rajasthan

New Delhi: With both the ruling Congress and opposition Bharatiya Janata Party embroiled in internal party feuds, the Aam Aadmi Party is aiming at major gains in the Rajasthan Assembly polls scheduled for later this year.

AAP is expected to officially launch its election campaign in poll-bound Rajasthan on June 18. The party is planning to hold a rally in Sriganganagar which is likely to be addressed by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann.

With the AAP securing a national party status, it is trying to expand its base in the desert state ahead of crucial state legislative assembly polls. It feels that a good show in the state polls will also lead to positive outcomes for the party in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.  

Sources stated that the AAP is trying to emerge as the third force in Rajasthan. The party is targeting the Assembly constituencies bordering Punjab and NCR, the two regions where the AAP has a government in place. 

The party feels that it can appeal to the voters in these bordering regions and project the works being done by its governments in Punjab and Delhi. 

With Rajasthan contributing massively to Delhi’s migrant population, the party also hopes to target these families in the forthcoming polls.  

While the AAP feels that it can aim to gather anti-incumbency votes against the Congress government, the party is majorly banking on the ongoing feud between chief minister Ashok Gehlot and his former deputy Sachin Pilot. 

The Kejriwal-led party also hopes to make gains as the main opposition BJP, too, is facing an internal rift among several factions led by former CM Vasundhara Raje, Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and others vying for the top positioning in the saffron front ahead of the crucial polls.

The AAP leadership feels that it is in a unique position to emerge as the third force as the two major parties in the state have been found wanting in dealing with their internal squabbles.

For the first time, the Arvind Kejriwal-led party is also trying to form an alliance with a regional group aiming to expand its base. Jat strongman of Rajasthan and Rashtriya Loktantrik Party Chief, Hanuman Beniwal, is being wooed by the AAP, Newsdrum had earlier reported.

AAP convener Kejriwal has already met Beniwal to discuss a possible strategic alliance between AAP and RLP in the forthcoming polls.

The AAP is trying to woo Beniwal as he is considered to hold sway over Jat voters in about 50 Assembly constituencies in the 200-member legislature. The RLP had broken off its alliance with the BJP a couple of years ago due to differences cropping up between the parties.

With the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government under tremendous pressure over deteriorating law and order and corruption issues, AAP strategists feel that the newest national party can further expand in the desert state.

The party feels that any gains in Rajasthan could help AAP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, where it has been found lacking. Though the AAP is in power in Punjab and Delhi Assembly, it has only one seat in the lower house of Parliament. And the party is desperately trying to change this position in the 2024 general elections.

With 25 Lok Sabha seats, Rajasthan is an important state for the BJP, Congress and AAP alike. These national parties want to secure power in the bordering state in Assembly polls ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The BJP- Rashtriya Loktantrik Party alliance secured all 25 Lok Sabha seats in Rajasthan in 2019.

The BJP had also successfully secured all 25 Lok Sabha seats in Rajasthan in the 2014 general elections, a record which the saffron unit wants to repeat in 2024 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks a third term in office.