AAP to focus on developmental work, revives mohalla sabhas

After Arvind Kejriwal’s public apology for quitting as chief minister last week, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has begun to focus its energies in recovering the ground it lost to the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections. AAP lost all seven seats in Delhi despite its brilliant performance in the assembly polls five months ago when it won 28 out of the 70 assembly seats. Battling perceptions that it ‘ran away’ from governance by stepping down less than two months after Kejriwal took over as CM, the party has instructed all its MLAs to concentrate on development work in their respective assembly constituencies. [caption id=“attachment_1548851” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Arvind Kejriwal with AAP supporters. Agencies.[/caption] Putting its ambitious swaraj or decentralisation model into practice, the party has told its MLAs to hold _mohalla sabha_s (public meetings) in their constituencies to finalise a list of the development projects so that MLA funds can be put to use. (As per AAP’s decentralisation model, each constituency is made up of _mohalla_s of 5000 voters each). The first big challenge for the party now is make the _mohalla sabha_s a success by ensuring maximum participation. Kejriwal has called a meeting of volunteers this evening to kick-start this process and the message reaches every household in Delhi. “Our slogan is ‘vidhayak fund: paisa aapka, faisla aapka’ (MLA fund: your money, your decision). Pamphlets with this slogan and with details of the date, time and place of the sabha will be distributed in the corresponding _mohalla_s. In my constituency, for instance, there are 27 _mohalla_s. And I have already held nine _mohalla sabha_s so far. Every house in the _mohalla_will have this pamphlet and will be invited to participate,” said AAP MLA from Malviya Nagar and former law minister Somnath Bharti. Elaborating on what the agenda of such _mohalla sabha_s would be, the MLA said, “There will be a discussion in which everyone will put forward their suggestion vis-à-vis the problem they want resolved in their mohalla. It could be about a road, a sewer line, a water connection. By majority, we then agree on an agenda and arrive at list of priorities. Each problemwill then be sent to the concerned agency, which will be asked about estimated cost of fixing it. Next, we will consolidate, keeping in mind the Rs 4 crore MLA fund, and forward the list to the Urban Development department, asking them to release funds to the corresponding agencies. After work is complete, there will be a quality check by the residents.” Bharti, who has conducted nine such _mohalla sabha_s, says the response has been encouraging. Determined to win back voters in his constituency, the MLA has also recently launched an online public grievance redressal portal called aapconnect.com for residents of Malviya Nagar. With its advantage reduced from a mighty 28 to only 10 assembly constituencies as per the Lok Sabha election results, AAP realises that it faces an uphill task in winning back voters it has lost to the BJP. A lot will now depend on how successful the AAP leadership is in reviving the spirits of a demoralised volunteer base and in convincing voters that it is as serious about governance as it aggressive about its campaigns.