AAP AIMS FOR THE HATTRICK

Aiming for a hattrick in Delhi, the Aam Aadmi Party has made its intentions clear by declaring its first list of nominees for the Assembly polls, thus sending a clear signal to its opponents that it was fully prepared to take them on.

- PANKAJ VOHRA

The first AAP list has mostly the names of those who joined the party and were being fielded against their former colleagues. There is a two-fold objective behind this early declaration, the first being that the AAP is conscious of the BJP's Operation Lotus plans and thus has shielded its top leaders while giving tickets to new entrants, who have no other place to go.

It is most unlikely that anyone of the nominees shall defect to any other party at this stage, and the list includes the son of former Congress strongman, Chaudhury Matin, who shall be the AAP candidate from Seelampur, a pre-dominant Muslim seat.

Most political pundits had believed that the minority dominated seats would be won by the Congress since going by the voting pattern of the Parliamentary elections, the Muslims had voted for the grand old party. However, by inducting Matin's son, the AAP is now going to be a serious challenger and could even win.

The Muslims by and large have been of the view that it was important to beat the Saffron brigade and whichever party was most suitable in achieving this objective, they would support it.

Although things have changed over the past few months, the Muslim votes cannot be taken for granted by anyone, particularly the Congress whose Delhi president Devendra Yadav seems busy with his padyatras rather than focusing on the strategy.