NEW DELHI, December 9: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which put up a spectacular electoral performance on its debut, won accolades from various political leaders. The party itself said the results showed that people wanted a change and were willing to trust alternative politics.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi attributed AAP’S victory to its involvement with a lot of people and said he would learn from the success of the new party.
BJP president Rajnath Singh said the party had benefited the maximum from the anti-incumbency factor in Delhi which was ruled for 15 years by Sheila Dikshit.
Janata Dal (United) president Sharad Yadav credited the AAP’s success to the party’s ability to effectively raise people’s issues of corruption and inflation. “People were frustrated with the prevailing situation,’’ he told The Hindu, adding that his party’s lone winner, Shohaib Iqbal, would not support the BJP in Delhi.
Mr. Gandhi said both the Congress and the BJP had thought about politics in a traditional way. “I think, we need to think in terms of empowering the people which I have been saying within the party. I am going to make this a central issue,” he said.
Maintaining that he would learn from the success of AAP, Mr. Gandhi said the new party involved a lot of people which traditional parties do not do. “We are going to involve them [people] in a way you can’t imagine,” he said.
Congress general secretary Janardan Dwivedi said the victory of the AAP was symbolic. “Major political parties failed to live up to the hopes and aspirations of the people and the AAP has given voice to the anger of the people. It is a sign of a healthy democracy.”
However, he said that only time would tell what material the AAP was made of. “I do not consider it as a threat but a warning signal that major political parties needed to act responsibly,” he said.
Separately, BJP general secretary Rajiv Pratap Rudy conceded that the rise of the AAP was a matter of concern for both the BJP and the Congress.
“Regional manifesto is setting the national agenda. This is what happened in Delhi. A great churning is taking place. AAP votes should actually have come to the BJP. Then it would have been a landslide victory for the BJP,” he said.
