Amid anger over civic issues, AAP local card helped, BJP national pitch soured

AAP Punjab unit convenor Harpal Singh Cheema said the Chandigarh win would “build an opinion in favour of the party among the people”. “Chandigarh is not different from Punjab. Daily, thousands of Punjab residents visit Chandigarh. They will go back to their homes and carry the desire for change. We will also work to sustain the momentum.”

He said that given that it was AAP’s first contest for the Chandigarh corporation, the vote was clearly for its plank of good governance. Cheema said they didn’t see this result as restricted to urban centres, where AAP might have bigger traction due to the Delhi effect. “The kisan aandolan gave a good reason for the people of Punjab to self-introspect. Nowadays, there is not much difference between rural and urban areas,” Cheema said.

Punjab AAP chief Bhagwant Mann said the party did not need to seek out allies, including among the farmer unions which have joined the poll fray. “Everyone has the right to contest polls. However, talk about an alliance with the farm union morcha is totally hypothetical. We have had no talks.”

While AAP had emerged as the second biggest party in the 2017 Assembly elections, winning 20 seats, 10 of its MLAs gradually left and joined the Congress.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supporters celebrate party’s victory in Chandigarh Municipal Corporation Elections, in Amritsar. (PTI)

The Chandigarh win is also remarkable as till last year, AAP had no organisational structure in the city. And only one big name: former Congress man Chander Mukhi Sharma.

AAP promises included a Delhi-like model of governance, including free 20,000 litres of water to every family per month. This had high appeal in a city upset with hiked water tariff rates (200 times last year). It also promised to rid the corporation of corruption.

The BJP-led corporation’s hefty waste collection charges, hiked property tax rates and angst over parking problems in a fast-expanding city also helped AAP. To many, it was one reason why Chandigarh fell from 2nd to 66th in clean city rankings. And while AAP kept raising these issues, the BJP’s answer was the Modi card.

For many, the nightmare of the second Covid wave was also fresh, when people found their sitting councillors missing as they hunted for beds and oxygen.

Putting up a brave face after the party’s tumble compared to the 2016 civic polls, BJP general secretary Subash Sharma said: “Civic and Assembly polls shouldn’t be mixed up. In the last Chandigarh polls, the BJP had won 21 wards, but in the Punjab Assembly, we won only three seats. So, how are they connected? Many of the AAP candidates this time had switched over from the Congress and BJP. Civic polls are very small polls in which people see their candidate, not the party. But at the state level, policy-making, governance, lots of things matter.”

Listing candidates fielded by AAP who had changed sides multiple times, BJP spokesperson Anil Sareen said, “If they are really serious about politics of change, why are they giving tickets to candidates rejected by other parties?” He added that talk of an alliance with the farmer morcha showed that the farmer agitation was “politically motivated right from the beginning”.

However, the BJP clearly misjudged the appeal of its Hindutva pitch among the corporation’s electorate, despite the city now having a large number of migrants, especially from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Himachal Pradesh. What might have worked against it is the farmer anger, which drew considerable support within the city. Chandigarh’s corporation limits this time had 13 more villages. The turnout was higher in the rural belts, and AAP won big there.

For the Congress, which ruled the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation for 13 years, there was nothing to cheer about either. The eight Congress candidates who won did so on their own personal connection.

All eyes are now on the January 5 visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Punjab, to lay the foundation stone of a PGI satellite centre in Ferozepur. It will be his first visit to the state since the repeal of the farm laws, which led to the farmer agitation being called off. The visit will come two days after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi holds a rally in Moga.

On Monday, the BJP firmed up its alliance with the parties of former Congress leader Amarinder Singh and ex-Akali leader Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa.