Party veteran and one of its founding members, Kumar Vishwas today said that the Aam Aadmi Party was on the verge of turning into the Congress party and that there was need for an attempt by party leaders to stop that from happening.
“Aam Aadmi Party is on track to become 10-15 per cent of what the Congress is and we need to make efforts to keep this at zero per cent,” Vishwas told India TV, commenting upon successive losses for the AAP. The leader said AAP needed to stop taking in the leftovers of the Congress, BJP and the SP if it were to remain relevant.
Holding trust deficit responsible for the party’s drubbing in the polls in Punjab and Delhi civic bodies, Vishwas said that the party’s poor show was not because of EVMs but because it had failed to live up to the aspirations of the people. Breaking his silence after the Arvind Kejriwal-led party suffered successive defeats in Assembly elections in Punjab and Goa and then in the MCD, Vishwas said that the party needs to establish better connect with the people of Delhi who voted the party to power with a resounding majority in 2015.
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Speaking exclusively to India TV, the poet-politician, who has often taken to Twitter to launch veiled attacks purportedly aimed at his own party, today said that the AAP’s loss in the recent Punjab Assembly elections was because the party had failed to live up to the faith that the people had put in it. He also brushed aside the contention that AAP lost elections repeatedly because of EVM tampering, something that Kejriwal has left no stone unturned to blame for the party’s poor performance recently.
“I am not ruling out the possibility of EVMs being tampered with but I do not hold it responsible for the poll loss in Punjab and MCD. That would be extremely discouraging for the party workers and legislators. EVMs may be an issue but we did not lose elections because of EVMs. It is a fact that people did not vote for us and the leadership needs to take responsibility for it,” he said.
Vishwas further said that as a senior leader of the party, he would like to apologise for the party’s poor standing in recent elections. “When we won Delhi with 67 seats, we dedicated it to our party workers. Now that we have lost, we (senior leaders) need to take responsibility for it and not blame the workers or EVMs,” Vishwas said, adding that better communication and seat distribution could have helped the party fare better in the MCD polls.
Vishwas said there was a trust deficit with the party that led to the disaster in Punjab polls.
“There are many reasons behind the party’s loss in Punjab elections. People saw hope in AAP but somewhere down the line, the party failed to live up to their aspirations. People were fed up of the Akalis. However, we failed – either in ticket distribution or in our communication – to convince people that we were the alternative they wanted. We went down the same road as traditional political parties leading to a trust deficit and this benefitted Capt. Amarinder Singh. We should have been more vigilant in ticket distribution,” Vishwas said, adding that projecting a chief ministerial face could have yielded better results for the party in Punjab.
When asked why he was missing in action in the state, Vishwas, in an apparent jibe at then Punjab in-charge Sanjay Singh, said that people calling the shots in the party felt they did not need him as they were confident of victory anyway.
“People who call the shots in AAP today are the same who were taking decisions in Punjab then. They decided that since they were already winning 110 seats, I did not need to go there. I do have a following and as an honest soldier of the party, there were occasions where I felt my presence could have helped. But people took a call and decided I am not needed,” he said.
In the course of his interaction, Vishwas also said that the party needed to take a call on minister Satyendra Jain who is facing allegations of money laundering. Commenting upon the row over his daughter’s involvement in Health ministry’s projects, Vishwas said that though Jain’s daughter harboured no bad intentions, the row could easily have been avoided.
“Satyendra Jain’s daughter had no bad intentions. She is capable. However, when in politics, people should refrain from taking credit. They should work without name, remuneration and position. She didn’t like it and left it,” Vishwas said, adding that it was for agencies to probe allegations against him and the party leadership to take a call on him.
Vishwas agreed with social activist Anna Hazare’s views that the Aam Aadmi Party and Arvind Kejriwal need to establish better connect with Delhi before foraying into other states. “Somewhere, the party has lost the connect with ground realities. Kejriwal needs to focus more on Delhi and its issues,” he said in response to a question whether the AAP should work in Delhi before thinking of making inroads into Gujarat.
