Delhi exit polls: Move over Congress, AAP is India's tallest opposition party

Irrespective of the result in Delhi assembly elections, one thing is certain: the AAP stands tallest amongst the Opposition parties looking to taking on the BJP. What these parties should be worrying about most is that the barely two-year-old outfit has managed to become the rallying point of forces that are opposed to the current dispensation. It’s been an extremely rabid past month; so bitter was the campaign in Delhi that the Opposition parties sang in chorus that the BJP’s tricks department had stepped in to stem the tide that seemed heading AAP’s way. For once, the Modi-Shah duo didn’t have their smug smiles, and tempers were running high within the saffron camp to ensure complacency doesn’t step in. With a direct fight between the BJP and the AAP on almost 50 plus of the 70 seats in the state, the Congress remains a marginal player this time around. Hard to imagine that it was the same Grand Old Party that held sway in Delhi for 15 years till just about a year ago. So much so, that regional parties exhorted people to vote for the “Mufflerman” - this included West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Bannerjee – and not the Congress. [caption id=“attachment_2086353” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Supporters of Aam Aadmi Party. AFP.[/caption] Mamata’s appeal was significant because her arch rivals, the Left parties, too had earlier issued a similar appeal to voters on the 50-odd seats where they were not contesting elections. The same Left parties and TMC had supported the Congress during UPA’s ten-year rule (2004-14) at different times to get the better of each other. It is a sign of the AAP’s growing admiration amongst the regional players in the country, for having the gumption to take Modi head on. Despite fighting the by-elections together with the RJD and the Congress in Bihar successfully, JD(U) too remains divided over supporting Kejriwal in Delhi. When the AAP won four seats from Punjab in 2014 general elections, it came as an eye opener for the Congress and the SAD both. Despite Dera Sacha Sauda throwing their weight behind the BJP, the fledgling party is in a neck and neck fight with the BJP in Sikh dominated seats of West Delhi (Hari Nagar, Tilak Nagar, Rajouri Garden and Janakpuri). The AAP’s next focus is likely to be on metros like Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai in the coming days to move from strength to strength after Delhi. Alarm bells should be ringing in the Congress camp but nothing much seems to have changed. Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi could be seen campaigning for party candidates on “safe” seats. The much-hyped organizational reshuffle is still awaited as balance is yet to be struck between the old and the new guard within the mammoth structure. “By not giving up against Modi, what the AAP has managed to do is capture the imagination of public at large,” admits a Congress leader on condition of anonymity. “They have hijacked our agenda, we are falling behind. We have been pushed back by another five years because of this,” he confides. Though the Congress has projected Ajay Maken and Arvinder Singh Lovely as their new leaders, it appears a long haul for them. They chose to talk of development work done under Sheila Dikshit’s regime, yet kept her as a low key campaigner for the party. The iconic Gandhi cap of the Congress has already been appropriated by the AAP, even forcing the BJP to adopt it to counter Mufflerman’s army in most Delhi streets. The Congress has lost the bulk of its support base of urban poor in Delhi who now stand rock solid behind the AAP. “You can say whatever you like, the results will be an eye-opener for all as our party will do well,” says Akhilesh Pratap Singh, national spokesperson for the Congress. “The public at large is fed up of Modi’s false promises and the same will happen with the AAP. Only promises, no delivery,” he adds. While Modi may have used social media effectively to wean away the youth during 2014 general elections, by matching hashtag for hashtag on social media sites the AAP has shown it can hold its own against them. Even if the AAP loses the epic battle of Delhi ¬– no exit poll suggests that though - it has given the glimmer of hope to all aspirations that remain unfulfilled by the NDA during the 2014 election campaign. With the Congress refusing to get out of limbo, the AAP poses a long-term threat to the Grand Old Party and to the Modi-dominated polity too.