'The entire party is centred around one man and that is Arvind Kejriwal.'
'Till the time you are in Kejriwal's good books you are powerful. The day you are not with him, you are no one in the party.'.
Key Points
- 'The BJP wants to create an atmosphere in Punjab that the Aam Aadmi Party is breaking up as its leaders are deserting it.'
- 'Raghav Chadha and all other Rajya Sabha MPs who have quit AAP have not won elections.'
- 'Kejriwal must introspect about his team building capacity and leadership skills. He must find out on his own where he is going wrong.'
In a major political setback for the Aam Aadmi Party, seven of its Rajya Sabha members broke away from the party on Friday and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party, underscoring deepening cracks within the AAP organisation.
The development comes amid growing unease over the diminished role of AAP MP Raghav Chadha who, according to party insiders, had been increasingly sidelined in decision-making and faced criticism for his prolonged absence during a period of crisis following AAP national Convenor Arvind Kejriwal's incarceration.
Three weeks ago Chadha was replaced by Ashok Mittal as AAP's deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha. On Friday both Chadha and Mittal joined the BJP!
Other AAP Rajya Sabha members who went along with them in their decision were former cricketer Harbhajan Singh, Swati Maliwal, Rajinder Gupta, Vikramjit Singh Sahney and Sandeep Pathak.
"Arvind Kejriwal is a good leader, but he is not a team builder. You will find that he has time and again made some leaders very popular and then the same leaders have deserted him," former AAP member Ashutosh tells Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.
How do you see Raghav Chadha's exit from AAP and joining the BJP?
There are no surprises as this was bound to happen. Nobody is in a confused state over him moving to the BJP.
But the surprising fact is that 2/3rd of AAP's Rajya Sabha members have joined the BJP.
The problem between Raghav Chadha and AAP has been going on since Kejriwal went to jail. From that point of time questions were raised that when the AAP leadership was in crisis Raghav was stationed in London.
He did say at that point of time that he had had an eye operation and therefore he was in London. But even when he came back he did not criticise the BJP government. This was also being questioned within AAP.
AAP leaders felt that when the party was under attack by the BJP Raghav must speak up and defend the party, which he was not doing.
Therefore, I am not surprised by Raghav's decision, but by other Rajya Sabha leaders who quit AAP.
It was said Chadha would quit AAP before the Punjab assembly elections next year. But this move has come all of a sudden.
The BJP wants to create an atmosphere in Punjab that the Aam Aadmi Party is breaking up as its leaders are deserting it.
The BJP has been trying very hard to come to the top position in Punjab politics but has failed to do so.
They tried to do so by getting Captain Amarinder Singh and Sunil Jakhar from the Congress, but that did not benefit them.
Now they feel that since most of these MPs who have quit AAP and come to the BJP are from Punjab, this will give them a political boost in the state.
Moreover, these AAP leaders, by moving to the BJP, have increased their numbers in the Rajya Sabha which will give them an advantage.
What about morality in politics? These AAP MPs were sent to the Rajya Sabha by their party.
AAP is the last party that can speak of morality in politics.
Once you enter power politics then you are saying goodbye to morality.
When your party is involved in power games you cannot speak of fighting against corruption or for honesty.
AAP has lost direction from its core principles. It is not fulfilling those promises (of clean and honest politics) for which the party was formed.
Do you feel Raghav Chadha will be a plus factor for the BJP? Will he be able to get votes for the BJP in Punjab?
Raghav Chadha and all other Rajya Sabha MPs who have quit AAP have not won elections.
Raghav Chadha lost the Lok Sabha seat from South Delhi in 2019; he did win an MLA seat in 2020 (from Rajinder Nagar) but that was due to the AAP voter base and not due to his personality.
If Sanjay Singh had moved out of AAP it would have made a difference. He is a grounded leader and has his own mass base.
Arvind Kejriwal sent these MPs to the Rajya Sabha and now they have betrayed him. Is it bad political judgement on his part as he could not send the right people to the Rajya Sabha?
Arvind Kejriwal is a good leader, but he is not a team builder.
If you see his political record you will find that he has time and again made some leaders very popular and then the same leaders have deserted him.
Take, for example, Swati Maliwal. She was very close to Arvind Kejriwal as she was working with him before the Anna Hazare andolan (2011). And her exit from AAP was a humiliating experience. She claimed she was beaten up and treated indecently.
Sandeep Pathak was number two in the party after Arvind Kejriwal, and he too has quit the party. He felt that all his powers were snatched away (by Kerjiwal).
The same feeling Raghav had as he was in charge of the party when it won the Punjab assembly elections in 2022. He too deserves some credit for AAP's success in Punjab but when their government was formed it was Arvind Kejriwal who was running the government. Without him nothing was moving in the Punjab government.
When people who were the ears and nose of Arvind Kejriwal once upon a time quit the party, then the question will obviously rise as to why talented and loyal AAP leaders are leaving the party.
I feel Kejriwal must introspect about his team building capacity and leadership skills. He must find out on his own where he is going wrong.
Is Kejriwal a gullible person who believes what he hears without verifying? As they say in Hindi, kachey kaan ke.
Arvind Kerjiwal's politics is very transactional in nature. Till the time you are needed he will keep you. When he feels you are not needed you will be sidelined.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi too has sidelined many BJP leaders who were his close associates in the past. So why has he not faced the same kind of trouble within the BJP?
Modi is a very good team builder. This he has learnt from the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) days.
He has learnt how to build his own team and how to take them all along from the RSS.
Nirmala Sitharaman perhaps is the longest serving Cabinet minister.
Rajnath Singh is associated with him for very long as the defence minister.
Ajit Doval is his advisor for the last 12 years.
Even in the prime minister's office he has officers who have been working for him for the last 12 years or more as a bureaucrat, right from when he was Gujarat chief minister.
Narendra Modi defends his team members and always protects them.
This is what Kejriwal needs to learn from Narendra Modi. You cannot be a successful leader unless you stand by your team members in their good and bad times.
But when BJP leaders like Prakash Javdekar or Ravi Shankar Prasad were sidelined by Modi, they did not revolt.
The BJP's biggest plus point is their ideology. It is a party that has come out of cadres. This is the uniqueness of the RSS that in its existence over 100 years the Sangh has never got divided into two organisations.
Every other political party has broken up into smaller parties. Be it the Janata Dal, Communist Party of India or even the Samajwadi Party.
The BJP or RSS has never broken up into different parties and this proves there is a crisis resolution mechanism within the organisation.
The BJP has their ideology and skill mechanisms to overcome from the party getting split. This is missing in AAP.
Today AAP has no ideology left and there is no strength given to the organisation.
The entire party is centred around one man and that is Arvind Kejriwal. Till the time you are in Kejriwal's good books you are powerful. The day you are not with him, you are no one in the party. This leads to frustration in leaders, which eventually results in them quitting the party.
What is Arvind Kejriwal's future?
Nobody can write the obituary of any leader. We are not someone who can predict the future, but yes, AAP's defeat in the Delhi assembly elections is the biggest blow to AAP.
Moreover, these leaders after quitting AAP have joined the BJP.
If AAP wants to continue succeeding in the future they must win the Punjab assembly elections next year. If AAP loses Punjab, then they will be in a very difficult situation. Winning Punjab assembly elections is very critical for AAP.
They have become a weak party at this moment for sure, but they can bounce back if they win Punjab.
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