AAP in fray no impact on Nagpur Municipal Corporation elections, says BJP and Congress

NAGPUR: In November last year, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) senior neta and Delhi MLA Vishesh Ravi had blown the bugle for Nagpur civic polls saying they will contest all seats and bring the Kejriwal model of development to the city if voted to power. His party’s announcement back then and now Friday’s event in which almost 300 people joined AAP is still not giving sleepless nights to its competitors.
BJP leader Virendra Kukreja feels AAP is growing only at the cost of a specific party. “You look at their success, they have replaced Congress in both Delhi and Punjab. The BJP will continue to hold on its space,” said Kukreja and added, “It’s the Congress voters who are looking for an option are now putting their weight behind AAP. While I appreciate the work being done by AAP Delhi MLAs, my opinion is that political growth won’t happen at BJP’s cost.”
The ‘ground network’ is what others feel could be the problem for AAP. Kunal Raut, president of Maharashtra Youth Congress, said, “We have an organizational structure in every ward and are aware of what on-ground activities political parties do. Based on that I can definitely say that AAP has not been able to mobilize its cadres in Nagpur in the same way they did in Delhi or Punjab.”
Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP), which won the third largest number of seats in NMC in 2017, too feels AAP won’t be able to have much of an impact. Senior BSP leader Gautam Patil said, “AAP is basically BJP’s invention. In Nagpur people are aware of this and that is why on the ground you won’t see much of AAP presence.”
Nitin Tiwari, city president of Shiv Sena, said the political landscape of north India is very different. “I spent a decade with the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and lived in Delhi for a long time due to which I understand how the Delhi-Pujbab-Haryana axis works. AAP has integrated themselves with issues which are predominantly based from there. During the farmers protest, AAP workers were providing water tankers, medicines, food etc to farmers due to which a lot of goodwill was generated,” said Tiwari.
“Of course, AAP workers are doing a wonderful job in Delhi, but that work is intertwined with localized issues which they won’t be able to replicate in Nagpur,” said Tiwari.
AAP, however, feels that regardless of the views of political parties, what matters is the public. Devendra Wankhede, senior AAP coordinator, said, “First they called us Congress’s B team, now they are tagging us with BJP. Regardless, what voters are appreciating is the good work we did in Delhi. The success in Punjab is because of development and social welfare politics of AAP.”
Wankhede said that political parties which ruled NMC are still not talking about local issues. “There are issues like NMC schools shutting down, water shortage affecting citizens etc. Public money is being wasted through privatization schemes, even though everything can be done for less money,” he said.