New Delhi:

Four ministers in the Arvind Kejriwal government will retain their posts as Atishi takes charge as Delhi’s new Chief Minister on Friday, sources have said. Ministers Saurabh Bharadwaj, Kailash Gahlot, Gopal Rai and Imran Hussain are likely to swear in again as the new Chief Minister takes over after Mr Kejriwal’s shock resignation Tuesday, sources said.

Dalit leader Mukesh Ahlawat, MLA from Sultan Pur Majra, may be sworn in as minister too. This would leave one ministerial post in Ms Atishi’s cabinet vacant. All the ministers will take the oath on Friday.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) said in a statement today that Ms Atishi will take the oath on Friday. “Atishi will take oath as the Chief Minister of Delhi on September 21, other ministers will also take their oaths alongside her,” it said in a statement.

The 43-year-old MLA from Kalkaji, who has handled key portfolios in the Arvind Kejriwal government and is among the key faces of AAP, is being elevated as Chief Minister after Mr Kejriwal announced that he would resign and return to the top post only after the “people’s verdict” in the upcoming election in the national capital. The AAP convener made the shock announcement days after the Supreme Court granted him bail, six months after he was arrested in a corruption case linked to Delhi’s now-scrapped liquor policy.

Ms Atishi said she is happy with the trust Mr Kejriwal has shown in her. She said she will work to bring Mr Kejriwal back as Chief Minister.

“First of all, I would like to thank the popular CM of Delhi, AAP national convener, and my guru – Arvind Kejriwal. He gave me such a huge responsibility and trusted me for it. This can be done only in AAP, only under the leadership of Arvind Kejriwal, that a first-time politician becomes the CM of a state. I come from an ordinary family. Had I been in any other party, perhaps I would not have been given even an election ticket,” Atishi said.

Ms Atishi will be Delhi’s third woman chief minister of Delhi after Sushma Swaraj and Sheila Dikshit. An Oxford University alumnus and a Rhodes scholar, she has worked extensively in the AAP’s flagship exercise to overhaul education in Delhi’s schools.

New Delhi:

Arvind Kejriwal’s emotional appeal to the people of Delhi — made ahead of an election that’s less than a year away — has left ‘ally’ Congress unmoved. Barbs have been flying at the Chief Minister — who announced that he would quit the post he held for a decade within 48 hours — from all directions, especially Delhi and poll-bound Haryana.

In both states the local leaders of the Congress have made it clear that the alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party stands at the Central level. The fight in the states is on, and no quarters will be given.  

Delhi Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit, whose mother Sheila Dikshit was a three-time Chief Minister of the national capital, could not keep the rancour away.

“Why didn’t Kejriwal resign earlier if this is what he wanted to do? He didn’t do so because he was insecure about his party people working without him being there,” Mr Dikshit added.

Terming Aam Aadmi Party a “party of theatrics” he alleged that there is a “lack of trust within the party and it shows”. “Whoever Kejriwal decides upon to be in charge it will be because he is out and he can control the decisions still… Kejriwal has done much damage to Delhi. This is of no consequence or impact,” added the leader.

Asked about the collapsed alliance in Haryana, a repeat of what happened in Punjab last year, he said, “We have been very clear that we’re going ahead in Delhi and Haryana elections by ourselves”.

“Wherever the Congress is strong, AAP follows… They don’t have the guts to contest in Bengal or in the South,” he added.

Delhi Congress’s Ajay Maken, who had been a strong opponent of any alliance with AAP, rubbed it in. “The only competition for Congress in Haryana is the BJP. We want to urge the people of Haryana, that when only BJP and Congress stand face to face in the state, if you vote for any other party, it will benefit the BJP. If anyone wants to vote against BJP, they should vote for Congress, otherwise, it will benefit the BJP,” he said.

Over the last decade, AAP has indeed been growing at the cost of the Congress, starting with Delhi where they ended Sheila Dikshit’s three-term rule shortly after the anti-corruption movement led by Gandhian Anna Hazare.

The footholds AAP has carved out in Gujarat and Goa have also been on the turf of the Congress, which had been the major Opposition party in these states.

Jannayak Janata Party’s Digvijay Chautala said the decision appears to have been made in view of the elections in Haryana. “Now Arvind Kejriwal will be active in Haryana politics,” he said.

Mr Kejriwal, two days after being granted bail, announced today that he would quit the Delhi top post in 48 hours.

While this appears to be the only option in view of the strictures laid down by the Supreme Court, AAP has taken it as an opportunity to test the waters in Delhi, where assembly election is due next year.

“I will not sit on that chair till the people announce their verdict. Elections in Delhi are months away. I got justice from the legal court, now I will get justice from the people’s court. I will sit on the Chief Minister’s chair only after the order of the people,” Mr Kejriwal had said after a series of internal meetings of the party.

Corruption allegations against Mr Kejriwal and other leaders of his party have turned the tables on AAP, born out of an anti-corruption movement. It has played havoc with optics and the Congress, especially, has been enjoying the irony.

“It is his will, if he can be the Chief Minister in jail, he can remain the Chief Minister outside as well. Maybe, there are other matters that are more serious that need to be addressed,” said Congress’s Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.

Chandigarh:

Having been granted bail to campaign for the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year, Delhi Chief Minister and Arvind Kejriwal will be released from jail again just ahead of the Assembly elections in Haryana, which is being seen as a big boost for the AAP in a state where it is hoping to do well. 

The party erupted in joy after a Supreme Court granted him bail in the Delhi excise policy case on Friday, noting that his “prolonged incarceration amounts to unjust deprivation of liberty”, and the AAP Haryana handle posted a video of Mr Kejriwal with a fire emoji, writing: “He is back”. 

AAP’s Haryana unit chief Sushil Gupta said Mr Kejriwal would campaign in the state, adding that the people are looking for a change. “We will now fight the polls with double energy. Kejriwal ji will soon start his campaign in Haryana,” he was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

“People are looking for a ‘badlav’ (change), they want to elect an honest government, which can ensure good education and health facilities, round-the-clock power supply and overall development… People want to bring the AAP to power and we will win the polls,” Mr Gupta added.

Voting will be held in all of Haryana’s 90 Assembly constituencies on October 5 and the AAP released its sixth list of 19 candidates on Thursday, the last day for filing nominations. The party is contesting 89 seats after its talks of an alliance with INDIA partner Congress fell through. The AAP had sought to contest at least 10 seats as part of the alliance but the Congress was willing to give up only five to seven.

The state unit of the Congress had, in fact, reportedly been against a tie-up with the AAP but talks had been held at the insistence of senior leader and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, who had said that it would prevent a division of votes and give the opposition its best chance of defeating the BJP.

The BJP has ruled in Haryana since 2014 but the opposition has been buoyed by its performance in the recent Lok Sabha polls, where the state’s 10 seats were split evenly between the BJP and the Congress after a clean sweep by the BJP in 2019. Opposition parties are also hoping that they can capitalise on the discontent among farmers, who have been protesting seeking a legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP), anger over the Agnipath scheme for recruitment in the armed forces and the anger among athletes following the protest against former BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh by wrestlers last year. 

While the AAP had lost the lone Lok Sabha seat – Kurukshetra – it had contested by a margin of 29,000 votes, the party believes it can do well because it is in power in Delhi and Punjab, two states that border Haryana, where, its leaders claim, people are happy with its policies. 

Along these lines, campaigning in the Asandh Assembly constituency on Thursday, AAP Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha had made a “triple-engine” pitch for development.

“On one side of Haryana there’s Punjab which has an AAP government and on the other side there’s Delhi with an AAP government too. If the AAP government is formed in Haryana then a triple engine of development will run in the state,” he had said. 

“We listen on the radio, Mirchi sunne waale always khush (Those who listen to Mirchi are always happy). Similarly, Kejriwal ko chunne wala always khush (Those who choose Kejriwal are always happy),” the MP had added. 
 

New Delhi:

The Congress-Aam Aadmi Party alliance in Haryana has also gone south, the way it did in Punjab. On Monday, Aam Aadmi Party released its first list of 20 candidates, putting a firm stop to any possibility of a rethink. Since then, the party has so far released 4 more lists of candidates — declaring a total of 70 candidates so far. But what made the prospective tie-up — in which the Central leaders of both parties were interested — collapse? More importantly, will it lead to an early Christmas for the BJP in the coming assembly election?

The Congress has been tight-lipped about this alliance and its collapse because the initiative came from Mr Gandhi. AAP also has been choosing its words carefully.

Sources said like Punjab, it was the local leaders of the Congress who were skeptical about the alliance with the AAP. Arvind Kejriwal’s party traces its inception to enmity with the Congress during Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption movement.

Over the years, it has been growing at the cost of the Congress, slowly encroaching upon the political space of the Grand Old Party – reason why no state unit of the Congress, be it Delhi, Punjab or Haryana, is bitter about AAP.

This is also why the Congress state unit was stalling, with a one-step-forward- two-steps-back strategy.

The state Congress leaders were sanguine that the party would not have received any special benefit from an alliance with AAP. On the contrary, there were concerns that a tie-up would alienate Congress’s leaders in preferred seats that would have gone to AAP under a seat sharing deal.

Sources said though Rahul Gandhi spoke of showing a big heart, it became difficult to implement it given the ground realities.

AAP’s performance in Haryana in 2019 has been lacklustre. The party had fielded candidates on 46 seats, but got less than one per cent of the votes. The recent Lok Sabha election was no different. Under the alliance with the Congress, AAP had got the Kurukshetra Lok Sabha seat, but lost the contest by around 30,000 votes.

In the current scenario – where the Congress is the main Opposition in the state and hopes to make inroads after three consecutive terms of BJP rule – AAP, however, can still play spoiler for the Congress in at least seven seats.

These include assembly seats like Kalayat, Rania, Pehwa, Barwala, Jind, Bhiwani and Gurugram. Of these, Congress could not win even a single one last time but hopes to do better this year.

New Delhi:

Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party, which failed to win a single seat in Haryana in the last state election and ended up with 1 per cent votes, hopes to play the kingmaker this time. The ambition was voiced by its senior leader Raghav Chadha, days after AAP ended all possibilities of an alliance with the Congress and announced its first 20 candidates.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Mr Chadha said today, “This time government will not be formed in Haryana without AAP”.

Another post predicted a dire outcome for Dushyant Chautala’s Jannayak Janata Party or JJP, which had had aided the BJP to form an alliance government in 2019.

“The people of Uchana had elected the VIP leader of JJP with great expectations but that leader betrayed the people. This time the JJP is going to become Jamanat Japt Party (the paty which lost its deposit),” read a rough translation of the post by Mr Chadha.

The JJP had contributed 10 crucial seats in the last alliance when the BJP had won 40 of the 90 seats, six less than the majority mark.
That alliance collapsed ahead of the Lok Sabha elections as the JJP complained that the farmers’ anger against the BJP was costing it its crucial support base.

The results of the Lok Sabha polls reflected just what the JJP was apprehensive of. It failed to win a single seat in the Lok Sabha election. The BJP was down from 7 to 5 and the gap was filled by the Congress which went up from one to five seats.

It is the JJP’s political space the AAP wants to occupy now, but with the Congress clearly retaining its position as the state’s main Opposition party that is hoping to be on the cusp of a comeback, AAP’s task may not be easy.

The assembly election will be held in Haryana in a single phase on October 5 and the votes will be counted on October 8.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Kisan Wing President Tarlochan Singh alias DC was shot dead in Punjab’s Khanna on Monday evening, police said.

The 56-year-old leader, who hailed from Ikolaha village, was returning home from his farm when unidentified assailants shot him. 

The leader’s body was found lying on the roadside and his son brought him to the nearby hospital along with the help of locals. Doctors at the hospital declared him dead.

Mr Singh’s son Harpreet Singh has alleged murder has been committed due to enmity.

Superintendent of Police (SP) Saurav Jindal said that the police is investigating the case from every angle. “The accused will be traced and arrested,” he said.
 

New Delhi:

The Aam Aadmi Party has released a first list of 20 candidates for next month’s Haryana election.

The AAP is in talks with the Congress for an alliance, but negotiations have hit a roadblock over the number of seats to be allotted to the party; the Delhi party reportedly wants to contest at least 10 of the state’s 90 Assembly seats but the Congress is only willing to give up seven.

The Congress party is gearing up for the Haryana assembly elections, which will be held on October 5 with results announced on October 8. The party is finalising its candidate list and has decided not to announce a chief ministerial candidate, opting instead for a combined leadership model.

The Congress has also resumed talks with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) regarding a potential alliance. Although the two previously contested the 2024 general elections together, early indications suggested they would go their own ways in the assembly polls.

Confident after its strong performance in the general elections, where it matched the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with five seats each, the Congress believes it has a good chance in state elections.

In the general elections, the BJP led in 44 assembly segments, the Congress in 42, and the AAP in four. In terms of vote share, the BJP received 46%, the Congress 44%, and the AAP 4% votes.

No CM Face to Curb Factionalism

After the CEC meeting on Monday, Congress leader Ajay Singh Yadav announced that the party would not project a chief ministerial candidate for the upcoming Haryana assembly elections. The final decision on the chief ministership will be made by the high command after the elections.

AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh emphasised that defeating the BJP should be the priority for the INDIA bloc. He noted that the party’s National General Secretary (Organization) Sandeep Pathak would engage in talks with Congress if the proposal gained momentum. “The final decision will be made by Arvind Kejriwal,” Singh told reporters.

AAP’s Haryana chief, Sushil Gupta, stated his personal opinion that the party should not settle for four to five seats but left the final decision to Delhi Chief Minister and AAP National Convenor Kejriwal. Reports also indicate that AAP Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha is involved in back-channel negotiations with Congress leadership.

Appealing To Broad Groups

Currently, former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupender Singh Hooda is leading the Congress effort, but a faction including Kumari Selja and Randeep Surjewala is reportedly unhappy with Hooda consolidating power.

Kiran Choudhury, who was part of this faction, left the party for the BJP after her daughter was denied a ticket in the Lok Sabha elections. The decision to not announce a chief ministerial candidate is seen as a move to curb factionalism and appeal to a broader electorate.

This strategy aims to avoid a Jat versus non-Jat contest. The Congress, under Hooda’s leadership, is perceived as representing Jat interests. The BJP has exploited Jat versus non-Jat dynamics to its advantage in previous polls. Congress is focusing on a coalition of Jats, Dalits, and Muslims. Dalits, who make up 20% of the population, are crucial. Kumari Selja’s role as a Dalit face and the non-announcement of a CM candidate help maintain hope within the Dalit community.

According to a CSDS post-poll study, 64% of Jats and 68% of Dalits voted for the INDIA bloc in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The Congress hopes this decision will help retain the majority of Dalit votes.

Possible Alliance With AAP

The Congress-AAP alliance performed well in the general elections, winning five seats and securing a 48% vote share. Although AAP contested the Kurukshetra Lok Sabha seat and lost, it led in four assembly segments and garnered a 4% vote share. The AAP’s solo run could split the opposition vote and potentially benefit the BJP.

The Congress aims to avoid a repeat of the 2019 scenario when the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP), led by Dushyant Chautala, seemingly spoiled its chances. The JJP’s 10 seats, largely from Jat-dominated areas, hurt the Congress’s prospects.

Both parties initially planned to go solo, but last-minute discussions at the high command level revived talks. The AAP is reportedly demanding 10 seats, while the Congress is currently offering two to three.

The Bania community, comprising 4% of the population, Aroras/Punjabis/Khatris (7%), and Sikhs (5%) are significant demographics in Haryana. The AAP has pockets of influence among these groups in Delhi and Punjab and is expected to gain some support in Haryana as well.

In the 2024 general elections, the BJP led in 19 of 23 urban seats, while the Congress led in only four. In rural Haryana’s 60 seats, the Congress led in 34, and the BJP in 22. The AAP is believed to have considerable influence in urban areas, particularly those bordering Delhi and Punjab, where Congress’s weak seats are located.

This strategy allows Congress to focus on strengthening its position in its strong Jat-dominated region while leveraging AAP’s influence in weaker areas to maximise gains in the assembly elections.

(Amitabh Tiwari is a political strategist and commentator. In his earlier avatar, he was a corporate and investment banker.)

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author

New Delhi:

A councillor of Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party has alleged that he was kidnapped today by a group of BJP leaders.  Ramchandra is one of the councillors who left AAP and joined the BJP last Sunday and four days later, traced his steps back.  After hours of hue and cry, the councillor showed up, and alleged that he was forcibly picked up by several BJP men.

“In the morning, five or six people came to my house, took me to the BJP office in a car. There they threatened me with CBI and ED. My leaders called the police commissioner and they got me released,” he told reporters.

“I am not scared of CBI and ED. I am a true soldier of Arvind Kejriwal,” he added.

Delhi BJP’s media in-charge Praveen Shankar Kapoor denied that his party has anything to do with this.

“You guys are the kings of fake sensationalism. Councillor Ramchandra is not in your party We have nothing to do with it, but It is certain that he is sitting in his house And you people are spreading rumours,” read his post on X. formerly Twitter.

Earlier today, in a post on X,  senior party leader Manish Sisodia said: ” BJP threatened councillor Ramchandra ji with ED and CBI. When he did not get scared, BJP goons picked him up in a car and took him away”.

It was a comment on a video posted by party colleague Sanjay Singh.
The video shows the councillor’s son Akash Ramchandra alleging that his father has been forcibly abducted from his office by a local BJP leader and his aides. The leader came to meet his father this morning. They threatened to get him framed by the Central investigating agencies, forced him into their car and drove off, he alleged.

“BJP’s open hooliganism in the country’s capital, councillor Ramchandra has been kidnapped after being threatened. He has been threatened to be defamed by using ED and CBI. Listen to his son Akash. What is happening in Delhi,” read a rough translation of Sanjay Singh’s post
that accompanied the video.

देश की राजधानी में BJP की खुलेआम गुंडागर्दी पार्षद रामचंद्र को धमका कर उनका अपरहण कर लिया गया है।
उनको ED CBI लगाकर बदनाम करने की धमकी दी गई है।
सुनिए उनके बेटे आकाश को।
दिल्ली में ये क्या हो रहा है @AmitShah@LtGovDelhi@CPDelhipic.twitter.com/UtAeB3q4Un

— Sanjay Singh AAP (@SanjayAzadSln) September 1, 2024

AAP held an immediate press conference, levelling strong accusations against the BJP.

“I am searching for him on the road, his phone is switched off,” said AAP leader Dilip Pandey. “Shahbad Dairy police station SHO has been talked to, who says that no such kidnapping case has been registered in his police station,” AAP said at the press conference.

India’s captain Rohit Sharma and spinner Kuldeep Yadav celebrate a wicket during the semi-final match against England in the ICC Mens T20 World Cup 2024, at Providence Stadium in Guyana on June 28, 2024
| Photo Credit: ANI

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