Refusing to concede that the Haryana victory, a record third consecutive one, will burnish BJP's credentials as a dominant political force in the country, AAP's Raghav Chadha pointed to ruling party's 39% vote share. 61% vote was against the ruling party, said Mr Chaddha, adding that the election was more of a Congress defeat than the BJP win.
"I would have agreed had the BJP secured more than 50% of the total votes polled. That is not the case. Vote in Haryana is not for the BJP. The vote in Haryana is against the BJP. 39% is what the BJP polled and 61% is the vote against the BJP. The idea was to unite the vote against the BJP. So, I feel that people of Haryana overwhelmingly voted for change and for a different regime in the state. It is not a victory of the BJP, it is a defeat of the Congress," Mr Chadha, a Rajya Sabha MP, told NDTV.
The BJP, beating pollsters' predictions and a huge anti-incumbency, won 48 seats in the 90-member house. Its rival, the Congress, which was expected to sweep the state, won 37 seats.
Asked if the results would have been different had the AAP and Congress fought together, Mr Chadha answered in the affirmative.
"If INDIA bloc would have fought the election as one cohesive unit, the results could have been diametrically opposite," said Mr Chadha, citing the results in Jammu and Kashmir, where the Congress fought the elections in partnership with National Conference and it won against the BJP.
The BJP, however, registered its best showing in the state, wining 29 seats against Congress' six.
"In Jammu and Kashmir INDIA bloc fought as an alliance, as one unit. With National Conference and Congress coming together and the BJP was defeated. In Haryana, unfortunately, despite best efforts from our side and perhaps even from Congress' side, the alliance could not be stitched. And all of us went solo and as a result, the outcome is not exactly in the favour of any member of INDIA bloc or for that matter even the Congress party," said Mr Chadha, alluding to the failed seat-share talks between AAP and the Congress.
Pushing for a "pragmatic approach" in seat-sharing talks, the AAP leader said the big learning from the Haryana polls has been that "overconfidence" does not help reap electoral dividends. A sentiment echoed by Arvind Kejriwal a day before.
"I think there's a big learning in this election for all of us. We are all wiser from the results of Haryana election. The learning is that overconfidence will never reap electoral benefits. We need to be very pragmatic in our negotiations. And there was I can say best possible efforts to build an alliance from both sides. And the seniormost leaders from both parties wanted the alliance but given the circumstances it could not happen," he rued.
But with less than 2% vote share in Haryana, would an alliance with AAP really have helped the Congress, the leader was asked.
"It's not merely about AAP. The Samajwadi Party, in the Ahir belt of Haryana, wanted to join hands. AAP has significant presence in several pockets of Haryana and wanted to join forces with the Congress. I will give you an example, we fought the Kurukshetra seat in the just concluded Lok Sabha election. Kurukshetra seat constitutes 9 assembly segments. Out of those 9 assembly segments, 4 assembly segments were fairly and squarely won by the AAP. So, we were a formidable force. Once, like-minded parties come together and there is a viable alternative, a formidable alliance, the vote share of the alliance as a whole increases by leaps and bounds. It would perhaps would not have been 2-3%. but far more and far greater than that," he explained.
Appraising the Congress' performance against the BJP, the AAP MP had a word of advice for the grand old party.
"I personally feel that there are now separate category of states in the country where the Congress may not entirely on its own be able to defeat the BJP in a one-on-one fight. We saw that in Madhya Pradesh (where again the Congress was expected to win), in Rajasthan (where Ashok Gehlot maintained that he will win), in Chhattisgarh (where Bhupesh Baghel also appeared confident of winning). In Haryana also, we are seeing something similar. If the Congress were to take these alliance partners along, the results would have been in the favour of the Congress party," he said.
The AAP leader, however, exuded confidence about the longevity and importance of INDIA bloc and his party's continued support for it.
"We are very much a part of INDIA alliance. We wish to remain part of INDIA alliance. We are hopeful about the future of INDIA alliance. In 2024, which was our first electoral outing as one cohesive unit, we could do magic. We did phenomenally well and far exceeded the expectations of all pollsters," he said.
"1 aur 1 do nahi, gyarah ho jata hai when all of us come together. I am very very hopeful about this alliance," he said signing off.
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