“Where is the bag?” an Aam Aadmi Party leader in North East Delhi asked this reporter when questioned about the level of coordination between his party and ally Congress.
“Bag” stands for a kit with instructions to polling agents, complete with voters’ lists. With four days left for polling and still no “bag”, AAP workers here are getting jittery in a seat where they are backing the Congress candidate.
The nitty-gritty of electioneering is a science in itself. Running an alliance is a speciality that tests the nerves even of political veterans. It is easier when the allies enjoy cordial relations than when they are archrivals turned partners.
The AAP is contesting four and the Congress three of Delhi’s seven seats that go to the polls on May 25.
“A lot of AAP workers were once Congress workers; so, there is a familiarity. AAP candidate (Mahabal Mishra) was a Congress leader, so he understands how we need to campaign,” a Congress leader in West Delhi said.
“We focus on common grounds — economic distress, misuse of investigative agencies and so on. We understand that the AAP is the dominant player on the ground and the Congress gets more votes in parliamentary polls.”
Congress and AAP during Kejriwal’s Nukkad Sabha in East Delhi on Monday. PTI picture
The coordination committee of the INDIA bloc in Delhi is headed by MLA Durgesh Pathak of the AAP and Delhi Congress veteran Subhash Chopra.
A party functionary at the AAP headquarters said: “Subhashji told us that their high command wants us to put our best foot forward in North East Delhi (where Kanhaiya Kumar is contesting). What about (the other two Congress candidates) Udit Raj and J.P. Aggarwal? Udit and Kanhaiya at least came and met Arvind (Kejriwal). Aggarwal is from the old guard and is anti-alliance.
“However, Udit and Aggarwal met all the (AAP) MLAs. They’ve worked out a system to compensate the labour of the AAP workers — take care of their food, and so on. Kanhaiya’s team seems to think that just speaking to people at the top is enough,” the source said.
Kejriwal and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi have, however, tried their best to break the ice.
After campaigning for AAP candidates, Kejriwal addressed rallies in the Congress constituencies last week.
At a rally last weekend in Chandni Chowk, Rahul invited AAP MLAs to stand beside him and referred to their supporters as “Babbar sher (Barbary lion) activists of the Congress and AAP”.
Rahul said he would be voting for the AAP in the New Delhi constituency and Kejriwal for the Congress in Chandni Chowk. However, the two of them have not held a joint campaign meeting yet in the capital, and Kejriwal has declared his own “national guarantees” without consulting his allies.
“If (AAP Delhi convener and minister) Gopal Raiji and Kejriwalji can hold media conferences with each of the Congress candidates, and All India Congress Committee leaders such as Jairam Ramesh can do the same for the AAP candidates, it would improve our communication,” Congress West Delhi coordinator Ashish Saini said.
“The fact is that the BJP is spending much more than us, and they are therefore able to go door to door,” he added.
Most AAP members echoed the need for better communication.
“There are pockets where people don’t know that we are allies now…. There needs to be a list of phone numbers of each candidate’s team that booth-level volunteers can call to invite the candidate, coordinate for rallies, and so on. Doing this at the last moment is stressful,” the AAP leader in North East Delhi said.
“Friendship and brotherhood are fine but there is a doubt over what happens next. No one likes being bossed around by a person from some other party,” he added.
