‘AAP will be an alternative to BJP, Cong’

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is disappointed but not disheartened from the election result. Talking to Sunil  Thapliyal senior AAP leader Ashutosh said AAP has a long way to go to shape up the nation’s politics and it will emerge as an alternative to the BJP and Congress in coming years.

Are you disappointed with the election result?

Certainly yes. We were expecting good result in Delhi, at least three to four seats in Delhi alone, but all our calculations have gone wrong and we lost badly. 

Do you consider Modi wave behind this defeat.

One has to be honest to accept the reality. We miscalculated the Modi factor, however, I am not saying that people have rejected us outright in Delhi, as our vote share has increased. The Modi factor worked for BJP in Delhi too. Even they were not sure of winning all the seven seats in Delhi.

What went wrong in this election? What are the factors which went against AAP? 

Money and man power are the decisive factors in the election. Modi and his party did aggressive marketing to promote the candidates and the party as well. Also, they got a huge financial support which led to this massive victory for them in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

What will be the AAP strategy for the next election? How are you going to keep your supporters’ morale high? 

The BJP had won two seats in their first general election in 1984 and since then it took them 30 years to emerge with a full majority at the Centre. Winning and losing the election is part of the game. We have made our presence felt in national politics. However, we are disappointed that we could not become a national party as we could not secure six percent vote share across the country. But we will do that in the next election.

Don’t you think that AAP’s decision to quit from Delhi government backfired in this election?

We cannot say this completely, but certainly this is one of the main factors too. We could not make people understand why we quit from the government the way we did and it may have cost us dear. 

Except in Delhi, AAP did well in Punjab, while in other states like Haryana the party could not make any mark. Why do you think this happened?

There are many reasons, actually. We do not have a party structure compared to others. However, we did pretty well in Punjab where we won four seats. We were expecting better results in Haryana, but there is caste politics which played a decisive role in local politics. It needs a lot of time and effort to change perception of the people which we could not achieve in this election.

What would you like to say about the new government and Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi.

Narendra Modi as PM designate will have to fulfill many promises. He can become the Prime Minister by using tough words for his neighbours but now he has to work on ground with a lot of accountability and responsibility. People are fed up of corruption, communalism and unemployment. I think, he has a tough time ahead of him.