Kejriwal unveils ambitious plan to make AAP a pan-India force

Speaking at a function in Nagpur on Sunday, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal revealed his goal for 2024  saying he would like to connect with 130 crore people of the country and not rely on stitching together an alliance to defeat “anyone”. It is obvious that Kejriwal wants to use the 2024 Lok Sabha polls to turn AAP into a national outfit and take its footprint across the nation. It will be an understatement to say that Kejriwal is an ambitious man. Kejriwal is not only ambitious but he is also endowed with patience and perseverance. Establishing the AAP rule in Delhi was only the first step for him. Now that his party has captured power in Punjab, Kejriwal has set his eyes on the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Undeterred by the fact that outside Delhi and Punjab his party has a limited support base, Kejriwal seems determined to make AAP a major player in the Lok Sabha polls two years from now. Even an ambitious and determined person like him would know that it would be impossible for him to give a direct fight to the BJP in the next general elections. To do that, Kejriwal will have to push aside  Congress in several key states and occupy the number two slots there.

Already, AAP has created a buzz in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, where Congress is busy with suicidal infighting. Unlike the Congress, which is drifting aimlessly without a settled leadership, AAP has  a decisive leader. Secondly, unlike senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who is always in the news for his foreign jaunts, Kejriwal is engaged in 24x7 politics. Kejriwal will know well that if he wants to someday rule the country, he will have to first defeat the Congress., then  only he can dream to be in the final.  Kejriwal cannot even ream to turn the  2024 Lok Sabha contest into an AAP Vs BJP duel, but in 2029 he could hope to mobilise enough resources to take on the saffron outfit provided the Congress did not do a course correction. Kejriwal may or may not achieve his ambition, but one thing is clear: he is ready to work for it, and has the patience to wait.