Punjab: Face problem for AAP, Congress to go all out

All’s not well for the AAP in Punjab. The lack of a face for a chief ministerial candidate is becoming a major hurdle for Arvind Kejriwal’s outfit in the state. The Congress, which has emerged as the main rival to the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP combine in the state, has the advantage of a strong and acceptable CM candidate in PCC chief Capt. Amarinder Singh. Come June and all the Congress heavyweights, including party president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi, will begin pouring into Punjab for a “full-throttle” campaign, sources said.

Strategised by Prashant Kishor and led by Capt. Singh, Congress leaders and functionaries are set to launch a door-to-door and village-to-village campaign shortly. The routs in Kerala and Assam have upped the stakes for the Congress in Punjab. Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi have begun regular parleys with state leaders. An election defeat at the hands of the AAP, a rookie in the state, would be a severe blow to the Congress, which is already reeling under a series of election debacles.

The Congress is banking heavily on Capt. Amarinder Singh, who withstood the Modi tsunami and defeated BJP heavyweight Arun Jaitley in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Led by Capt. Singh the Congress, which has managed to merge smaller parties like People’s Party of Punjab and SAD (Longowal) with itself, is also wooing the Left and BSP to join them. After the Bengal debacle, the Left was wary of joining hands with the Congress. The BSP has so far not shown any interest towards the Congress.

The SAD-BJP combination might appear to be down at this juncture, but they are not yet out of the game. The Shiromani Akali Dal retains its “panthic-rural appeal” and corruption has never been a major issue in Punjab. SAD president Sukhbir Badal is known for his poll management skills. SAD functionaries claimed the party would gain from the split of votes between the AAP and the Congress.

If the Congress has managed to stem factionalism in the party’s state unit, the AAP is suffering from dissension in the ranks. Two AAP MPs, Dharamvira Gandhi and Hartinder Singh Khalsa, are expected to resign from the party and the Lok Sabha following “differences” with party supremo and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.

Meanwhile, packed with poets, comedians and film stars in Punjab, the AAP is a step ahead of the Congress and SAD in the propaganda blitzkrieg. The song Sadda khet kha gaye, fasal kha gaye, ret kha gaye badal, composed and sung by AAP’s Kumar Vishwas, has taken the state by storm. But the song that has become the AAP anthem in Punjab has Mr Kejriwal singing an old Bollywood song, Aa Chal Ke Tujhe Mein Leke Chaloon, with the lyrics changed to suit the occasion. The song, which targets corruption in Punjab, goes “Aa chal ke tujhe mein leke chaloon ek aise gagan ke tale — jahan chor bhi na ho, jahan bhrasht bhi na ho, bas AAP ka raj chale.”