AAP is all set to become the ninth political outfit to secure the status of a national party after its impressive performance in the Gujarat Assembly elections.
This would also mean AAP supremo and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will now have more ammunition to stake claim for a better seat on the Opposition high table.
The results will also enhance his position among non-Congress Opposition leaders, amid Trinamool Congress and its chief Mamata Banerjee and TRS and its supremo K Chandrashekar Rao among others vie to take the pole position in the non-BJP grouping.
Winning five seats with close to 13 per cent vote share, the Arvind Kejriwal-led party will be recognised as a state party in Gujarat, the fourth state in which the AAP has earned this recognition. AAP has governments in Delhi and Punjab while it has two MLAs and 6.67 per cent votes in Goa.
If a party gets state party status in four states, it is entitled to get national party status. At present, BJP, Congress, Trinamool Congress, NCP, CPI(M), CPI, BSP and National People’s Party (NPP) have national party status.
Once the Election Commission officially grants national party status, AAP can contest across the country in its symbol ‘broom’ and no else can claim it.
An elated Kejriwal said in a video posted on his Twitter handle, “we have become a national party. Gujarat people have made us a national party. Very few parties get the status of national party…We have breached the BJP bastion of Gujarat this time and we will surely win next time.”
The AAP had been concentrating on the Gujarat campaign though its resources and attention were diverted to the municipal polls in Delhi.
However, it chose to leave the field in Himachal Pradesh much earlier, as its assessment showed that AAP was not going to gain much in the state. The decision to focus on Gujarat appeared to have benefitted the party. AAP leaders said its performance in Gujarat would have been better if the Delhi municipal polls were not scheduled during this period.
The party has cleverly designed its campaign with Kejriwal becoming the party’s face as was elsewhere. It went with a soft Hindutva plank, even going to the extent of demanding that the images of Lord Ganesha and Goddess Laxmi on currency notes. The party also did not comment on the release of convicts in the Bilkus Banu rape case, triggering unease among its secular followers.