Prashant Kishor's response on Kejriwal's defeat.
Prashant Kishor analyzes Arvind Kejriwal’s political mistakes leading to AAP’s defeat in the Delhi elections. He discusses Kejriwal's strategic errors, including his shift in political stance, failure to resign after his arrest, and contesting elections alone. Kishor highlights the impact of these decisions on the party’s loss of support and dominance in Delhi.
The Aam Aadmi Party, which hoped for a hat-trick in the Delhi elections, faced a crushing defeat. The election results came as a surprise to everyone, including the AAP. The party was limited to just 22 seats. The BJP also won more seats than expected. In New Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal himself was defeated. Political strategist Prashant Kishor responded to this defeat and revealed the political mistakes made by Kejriwal. He mentioned that Kejriwal's political stance had changed in recent times, and his decisions regarding the India Alliance had hurt him.
At the same time, Kejriwal contested the Delhi elections alone, which affected his performance. After several key AAP leaders were arrested in the Delhi liquor scam, Kejriwal himself was arrested last. However, he did not resign from his position as Chief Minister after the arrest. Instead, he sought bail and fought a long battle in court before eventually securing bail and then resigning from his post. Prashant Kishor called this decision of Kejriwal to resign only after getting bail a major strategic mistake, weakening the AAP’s position in Delhi. A senior leader from the party, Atishi, was then given the seat, which Prashant Kishor considered the biggest political mistake.
Prashant Kishor analyzed that if Kejriwal had resigned from his position after his arrest in the liquor policy case, the situation would have been different. By seeking bail instead of resigning, Kejriwal began to lose his hold on the AAP's position in Delhi. He also mentioned that Kejriwal's frequent changes in his political stance recently contributed to the party’s defeat in Delhi. Specifically, his mistake of initially joining the India Alliance and then contesting the Delhi elections alone without involving Congress, a partner in the alliance, led to this situation. Prashant Kishor pointed out that the primary reason for the AAP’s defeat in the Delhi elections was a decade-long public backlash. He further mentioned that Kejriwal's decision to seek bail instead of resigning had a significant impact.
Other factors, such as the Delhi floods and Kejriwal focusing on states other than Delhi, also contributed to the shift in voter opinions, Prashant Kishor said. He concluded by stating that it would be very difficult for the AAP to regain its political dominance in Delhi, and the people no longer trust Kejriwal.
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