The southern problem: How AAP is readying for national polls

New Delhi: After its victory in the Delhi elections, the Aam Aadmi Party is taking its campaign for the Lok Sabha elections very seriously and as part of its unique approach to Indian politics, has called for ordinary people from across the country to fill up forms and apply if they want to be Lok Sabha candidates. The party has also announced a national drive from 10 to 26 January to get new members. A testament to its success in attracting candidates is the kind of rush one can witness at the party’s main office in Hanuman Lane, near Connaught Place in central Delhi. At any given point in time, there are close to 100 people waiting to get into the top floor office, where most of the key meetings take place. Business cards are handed out, many of those waiting are angry that someone else has been let in even as they wait, others are prepared to wait for hours just to get a chance to talk with a party leader. [caption id=“attachment_1327567” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The AAP headquarters in Delhi. Sandip Roy/ Firstpost[/caption] Many of those at the AAP headquarters hail from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. All have their own individual campaign plans but a common agenda: contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha elections on a AAP ticket. “Every day two hundred to three hundred people are coming here. It’s all about Lok Sabha elections for them,” a party worker told Firstpost. The rush isn’t seen slowing down any time soon. The man most of the prospective candidates want to meet is Pankaj Gupta, the leader who is handling the national election strategy for the AAP. AAP has already begun to carry out extensive work in the key north India states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan and Haryana. It has Kumar Vishwas taking on Rahul Gandhi in Uttar Pradesh’s Amethi seat and Yogendra Yadav heading the party’s campaign in Haryana. But in south India, in states such as Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, the AAP wave isn’t as strong as the party would like just yet. “The pace is a bit slower in the southern states. Yes, the impact is not as strong as it is in the northern states but, we are trying,” Gupta told Firstpost. However, he said it doesn’t mean that the AAP doesn’t have a plan for the states. “Membership drives are going on extensively in Karnataka, in Chennai and even in Kerala. In Thrissur we are trying to get a mass membership drive of around 200,000 people done, but again we’ll have to wait and watch to see how it actually works out,” he said. The lack of a visible presence in south India is a slightly worrying sign. Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu account for a total of 81 seats, with 42 in Andhra and 39 in Tamil Nadu. Add Kerala’s 20 seats to this and you have 101 seats, a fairly large number, where the AAP is still uncertain of its presence. For a party that’s hoping to emerge as the third national political force in the country, and perhaps even upset BJP candidate Narendra Modi’s prime ministerial campaign, the lack of clarity on over a 100 seats is something the party will hope to address quickly enough.   For now, Gupta said he has been meeting people from these states who are interested in working for the party. Presently the AAP is targetting individual districts and is trying to build a presence in nearly all every states. “We want to have maximum presence in almost all the states. We are trying to ensure that we can have a presence in more than 50 percent of the districts in a particular state. If we do manage that, then we set up a state team to coordinate with the district teams,” Gupta said. The party is also very clear that unlike its other national peers it has no plan to maintain a central control structure after it expands across the country. “We believe in decentralisation as a party. In ten states we have state teams ready. We’re also holding state meetings with our local representatives in these places to encourage and motivate them, give them support,” Gupta said. However, Gupta isn’t keen on revealing how many seats the party plans to contest in the elections and denied reports that say they party will be in the fray for between 100 to 200 seats. “The total number of seats we contest from, will only be decided once we have shortlisted all the candidates. Of course, which seat we contest on will also depend on whether we have a particular strength in the Lok Sabha seat itself. Factors like winning ability, local supports, etc will be taken into account before we declare ourselves as candidates from any seat,” he said. Despite the elections being around five months away and the party just beginning to look for candidates, the response following the party’s victory in Delhi leaves little doubt about their popularity among prospective candidates. Whether it will be able to replicate its magic beyond the confines of the national capital remains to be seen.