The Aam Aadmi Party did not participate in the meeting of opposition parties for the Presidential candidate on Wednesday. To know the reason behind this, we take you back five years. Let’s talk about the year 2017 when 17 opposition parties were invited to a luncheon by Sonia Gandhi for the presidential election candidature. At that time, missing the name of Aam Aadmi Party in the list of invitees of Congress was a big mistake. The Congress kept the AAP away from the table of the United Opposition when the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party was busy with electoral vicissitudes and ongoing police cases against its MLAs in Delhi.
As of June 15, 2022, AAP is the only opposition party other than the Congress, ruling the two states with a collective strength of 156 MLAs and 10 Rajya Sabha MPs. Despite this, the Aam Aadmi Party did not join a joint strategy in the meeting convened by West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee to discuss the candidate in the presidential election. However, this time keeping itself away from this meeting was a pre-selected option of AAP as it is making rapid efforts to increase its capacity in states like Gujarat and Haryana.
There are three big reasons behind the Aam Aadmi Party not participating in this meeting.
Congress’s presence in this meeting
For the past decade, the Aam Aadmi Party has marginalized the Congress from the politics of Delhi and Punjab. Since then, the Congress party led by Sonia Gandhi is not comfortable sharing a common platform. In the year 2011, the Aam Aadmi Party rises, this party was born on 5 April from the India Against Corruption (IAC) movement. The movement shook the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. Congress could never recover from that setback of IAC. After which a section formed the Aam Aadmi Party. In 2013, the Aam Aadmi Party formed a minority government for the first time in Delhi, after which Kejriwal resigned in 2014. The Aam Aadmi Party blocked the introduction of a Jan Lokpal Bill in the Delhi Assembly, citing constitutional weaknesses. Gave. Relations between the two parties further soured after alliance talks broke down ahead of the 2019 general elections, triggering a bitter and public spat between Kejriwal and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
Aam Aadmi Party conscious of its image
Aam Aadmi Party feels that its anti-corruption, modern image, lack of governance image does not match with the traditional approach of other political parties. The Aam Aadmi Party had collectively united the people in the name of Lokpal Bill. Although the party had appeared in such joint forums earlier as well. In 2018, Kejriwal was among the opposition leaders who attended the swearing-in ceremony of HD Kumaraswamy in Karnataka. He was also present at another joint opposition rally organized by TMC in Kolkata in 2019. In February 2019, AAP also hosted a ‘Save Democracy’ rally at Jantar Mantar, where Kejriwal shared the stage with Congress’ Anand Sharma. But the defeat in the 2019 general elections has forced a rethink, leading to a change in strategy. While Kejriwal continues to meet leaders like Banerjee, and TRS’s K Chandrashekhar Rao and DMK’s MK Stalin, AAP leaders say that in the lead-up to the 2024 elections, the party will largely do away with participating in joint forums. Like he did in the past.
Strained relationship with TMC is also a big factor
One of the reasons why Kejriwal did not attend the meeting with the opposition parties is that the relationship of the Aam Aadmi Party with the TMC has deteriorated in the last one or two years. The TMC made a surprise entry in Goa ahead of the assembly elections in the coastal state, where AAP was trying to enter since 2015. Due to this, tension also came between the relations of Arvind Kejriwal and Mamta Banerjee. Both these parties are competing to register their presence in the vacant places of Congress. Let us tell you that Assam is another such place where in the coming days both the parties are ready to cross with swords. The Bengal unit of AAP has also been continuously attacking the TMC government.