A lot has been written over the glorious debut of AAP. It had taken over the nation by storm. It had got massive support from the middle class and the youth. A few months later with an overall 2.3 % vote share, it’s been reduced to a regional party. What went so terribly wrong for the party?

Flashback, the mere rhetoric’s, dharnas, giving up the people’s mandate in Delhi over a period of 49 days, playing the secular card and appeasement politics, Kashmir referendum, no clear foreign policy, no word on terrorism and naxalism. For sometime, i felt it was the BJP which was in power for the last 10 yrs or perhaps you (AAP) felt Congress was never in the race. You tried to occupy the space of the declining Congress in the Indian political spectrum. Your policies also have more of a Leftist approach. The 4 seats you have won in Punjab is because of the anger against the Akalis, another family run party. Unemployment, drug menace and anti incumbency helped you get through. I must say your candidate selection especially Bhagwat Mann was a good one.

So what AAP should have actually done? It’s a known fact that you had become over ambitious with your Prime Ministerial ambitions. You should have continued as the CM of Delhi and provided good governance and met some of your manifesto goals. Even if you had given up the Delhi chief ministership, you should have contested on less no. of seats and mainly for yourself from a Delhi constituency.

You tried to spread your fledgling party too far. You were second to BSP which contested on 526 seats. You went on to contest on 425 seats more than what BJP (415) and Congress (414) contested. In my state of Maharashtra (48 Lok Sabha seats), 47 of your candidates have lost the deposits. The only exception is Medha Patkar.

Election requires muscle power, money and resources. A few of my friends who are AAP supporters had already read the writing on the wall. It would have been wiser, if you would have contested on 100 seats with you being the lead in campaigning. Winning 30 seats would have been a much better story. I admire Kumar Vishwas who went to take on the biggest dynasty symbol but got little support from the party. All the strength of the party was put up in Varanasi. A journalist has rightly stated that it would have been much better to see a Nandan Nilekani, Raj Mohan Gandhi and Harsh Vardhan in the parliament.

PS – This is my first article on PG. From an MBA aspirant who is more interested in politics. Suggestions are welcome ? ________________________________________