AAP sends a shudder down saffron spines in Bihar and UP

In the hinterland of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, the discussion these days centres around the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and its leader Arvind Kejriwal.

The mind space, which until recently was occupied by the Congress, the BJP and the regional parties, is witnessing a gradual shift.

A lot of it has to do with the media and the way it has been covering AAP’s historic debut in the Delhi Assembly elections.

The buzz around AAP is so loud that it has put the BJP and Narendra Modi in the shade, giving rise to concern in the saffron camp about its chances in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

Ever since AAP formed the government in Delhi, there’s very little one hears or sees of Modi – barring his kite flying with Salman Khan – and this is a cause for concern. Now with the Congress planning to anoint Rahul Gandhi as its prime ministerial candidate, the media spotlight around Modi is set to dim further.

Sources confirmed to Mail Today that Kejriwal, who has single-handedly wiped the Congress from Delhi’s political map and steamrolled the BJP’s dream of forming a government in the state, is the new concern for the saffron leadership ahead of the general elections.

“This will be a do-or-die for the BJP… AAP has definitely taken the joy out of our life,” a senior leader told Mail Today.

The blame game has already begun within the BJP in Delhi for “missing the majority mark” in the Assembly elections, and the top leadership has also been hauled up for under-estimating AAP.

The state BJP unit is banking on re-election to set the record straight in Delhi, but going by the inroads being made by the AAP into the Capital’s vote bank, the party will have to pull a rabbit out of its hat to realize Modi’s dream, a party insider said.

Delhi is not the party’s only concern. The AAP has already expressed its intention to fight over 300 seats in the general elections.

Offices have been opened in the Bihar capital and its leaders have started camping in Uttar Pradesh even as AAP’s exploits are being talked about in Bhopal and Chandigarh.

But it is the party’s rise in Bihar and UP that is worrying the BJP more.

UP has 80 Lok Sabha seats and Bihar has 40, and for the BJP to come to power at the Centre, it needs to win as many as possible from these two states. That prospect looks difficult at the moment.

Courtesy: Mail Today