Strong discontent exposes what can be termed as franchise model in ticket allotment by Aam Aadmi Party claiming to offer alternative politics

 

AAP offering alternative politics turns out to be franchise model provoking strong attack

 

Ground Zero

Jagtar Singh

The allegations being levelled against the Aam Aadmi Party, that claim to offer alternative politics, not just alternative to existing traditional political parties, in the run up to the Assembly polls in Punjab are of course not new. It is that certain dimensions are new.

The allegations pertain to sale of tickets.

Such allegations had got suppressed amidst frenzied hype created in favour of the party before the 2017 elections but were raised more forcefully after the results were out. The party, that had emerged as the main opposition replacing the Shiromani Akali Dal, subsequently collapsed under such allegations including autocratic behaviour of its chief Arvind Kejriwal.

Theis controversy of selling of tickets this time is already rocking the party thereby exposing its functioning that in corporate culture is described as the franchise model. You pay for the brand name like the KFC or Dominos outlet.

The allegations of sale of tickets have not been levelled by the party activists alone who have been denied the tickets but also by Balbir Singh Rajewal, the senior most leader of the successful farmers struggle who now heads the Sanyukt Samaj Morcha, thereby  providing this dimension some sort of credibility.

Rajewal has been quoted in a Chandigarh based major newspaper as saying, “I have audio recordings of party leaders demanding money to give tickets to candidates. I discussed this with AAP top brass and since they did not want to listen about this, I decided against going with them in polls”.

Party’s  Hindi speaking Punjab incharge Raghav Chadha faced angry protests by AAP activists earlier in Jalandhar and today another set of people from this formation levelled the allegations of selling of tickets at a media interaction in Chandigarh.

The party that offers itself as an alternative to the traditional parties just can’t afford such controversies days before Punjab is to go to the polls on February 14.

That something is wrong somewhere is also reflected through another aspect of the ticket allotment that also questions its claim of offering alternative politics.

One can’t sell the same wine in a new bottle.

At least 16 of the candidates are those who have jumped over from the Congress or the Akali Dal.

How can a party offer the hope of alternative politics by inducting people from the traditional parties that are perceived to degenerated and corrupt?

In some of the cases, tickets have been announced within hours of the person joining the party causing heartburns among the activists who have been working for long. This is one of the reasons for rising discontent bordering anger against the party.

Earlier, Artvind Kejriwal committed a tactical blunder by saying that he would offer an effective and credible Sikh face as his party’s chief ministerial candidate with Punjab party president Bhagwant Mann sitting  on his side. Nothing could have been more embarrassing for Mann.

His claim of offering alternative politics stand debunked with the allotment of tickets to people from the Congress and the Akali Dal background.

AAP is now no different from any other traditional party competing for power in Punjab.

The product being offered by and large is the same but under a different brand name and that too allotted under the franchise model.

PS:

The anticipatory bail allowed to senior Akali Dal leader and former minister Bikram Singh Majithia  in the narcotic drugs case might have come as a shock to both Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu and Kejriwal.

Kejriwal, of course, had earlier, submitted written apology to Majithia in the court in a defamation case but at the same time, the party was talking about the issue off and on.

Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh was replaced by Charanjit Singh Channi mainly for his failure to deal with the narcotic drugs and Bargari sacrilege cases.

Channi came under repeated attack publicly from Sidhu for taking these cases to the logical conclusion. Sidhu finally succeeded in getting appointed S Chattopadhyaya as the Director General of Police and D S Patwalia as the state Advocate General. The FIR against Majithia was registered after these changes. Both of them were his nominees.

With Majithia getting anticipatory bail, Sidhu stands somewhat deflated. This would impact the power struggle within the state Congress too as he has been openly lobbying for getting declared as the chief ministerial face while the Congress has decided to capitalise on the scheduled caste background of Charanjit Singh Channi.

That it is a moral booster for Akali Dal at this crucial juncture is besides the point.