oppn parties Setback For AAP As Leaders Switch To BJP

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  • Allahabad HC said that the UP Police is acting as law unto themselves as they detained a person unlawfully even before his arrest
  • Kolkata witnesses traffic snarls on the first day of the Durga Puja festival as revellers start pnadal-hopping
  • Neha Bora was subsequently released and Dipke is to appear before a magistrate today at noon
  • Delhi Police detained Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke, Neha Bora of AISA, student leaders and supporters ahead of a rally in Connaught Place demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's resignation. The protest followed the detention and jailing of two CJP leaders earlier in the week over demonstrations at Jantar Mantar
  • The Reserve Bank of India is considering further monetary tightening to counter capital outflows and increase the cost of betting against the rupee, according to bankers and analysts cited by Reuters. The measures follow recent rate increases and steps to drain liquidity as pressure on the currency and inflation concerns persist
  • India directed oil marketing companies to stop diverting sugar-based feedstocks for ethanol production in the 2026–27 supply year, according to a new tender issued on Friday. The companies have invited bids for 11 billion litres of ethanol made from alternatives including corn and broken rice, amid concerns about domestic sugar supplies and prices
  • Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India's trade imbalance with China was growing sharply and attributed the problem partly to restrictions on Indian goods and services entering the Chinese market. China subsequently said it was ready to work with India to address mutual economic and trade concerns; India's trade deficit with China reached $69 billion in the first half of FY2026–27, up 27% year-on-year
  • Indian equity benchmarks extended their recovery on Friday, with the Sensex rising 413.66 points to close at 74,729.27 and the Nifty 50 gaining 148.80 points to settle at 23,146.15. Information technology shares, including Tech Mahindra, Infosys and TCS, helped lift the indices
  • India defeated Zimbabwe by four wickets in the opening women's T20 International in Raipur, taking a 1–0 lead in the three-match series. Deepti Sharma and Niki Prasad combined in an 82-run stand after India's top order collapsed, helping the hosts chase down Zimbabwe's total of 114 for five
  • Indian wrestler Komal won bronze in the women's 59 kg category at the Under-23 World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas, defeating Kazakhstan's Viktoriia Khusainova 7–2. Fellow Indian Amruta Pujari advanced to the women's 72 kg final after recording two pinfall victories
  • Indian shuttler Jagsher Singh Khangurra secured a bronze medal at the BWF World Junior Badminton Championships in Cairo
  • The Supreme Court of India upheld the Bombay High Court's decision quashing the 2020 write-off of ₹8,415 crore in additional tier-1 bonds issued by Yes Bank (Yes Bank). The court ruled that the bank's administrator lacked the authority to extinguish the bonds under the final reconstruction scheme, strengthening bondholders' claims
  • The Supreme Court issued notices to the Election Commission of India, Delhi Police and opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, in separate petitions concerning electoral-roll revision and protests held in Delhi on October 10–12. The court also directed the preservation of CCTV footage linked to allegations of police excesses
  • The Supreme Court ruled that a person converting from Hinduism to Islam cannot automatically claim backward-class reservation benefits in the new religious community solely on the basis of their previous caste status. The judgment upheld the Madras High Court's decision striking down a 2024 Tamil Nadu government order that permitted such certification for specified communities
  • The Election Commission of India ordered a Special Summary Revision of electoral rolls in 14 states and three Union Territories, using January 1, 2027, as the qualifying date for voter eligibility. The draft rolls are scheduled for publication on November 12, claims and objections will be accepted until December 11, and the final rolls are due on January 4, 2027
Delhi HC refuses to ban CJP's Tiranga rally at Central Park in Connaught Place today /////// Police says will control and regulate it /////// NDMC closes the park for the public on Friday and Saturday
oppn parties
Setback For AAP As Leaders Switch To BJP

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2022-04-10 16:58:15

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is experiencing both euphoria and setbacks after its historic win in Punjab. The party had organized Tiranga Yatras in a bid to test the waters in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, the two states that will go to the polls later this year. As it had done well in the Surat municipal elections in 2021, the party hit Gujarat first. It was naturally elated when a huge crowd turned up for its rally in Ahmedabad. The smile never left Arvind Kejriwal's face as he got a rousing reception in Narendra Modi's home state. But what happened next was a huge setback for the party. Within a couple of days, more than 150 mid-level leaders and workers of AAP in Gujarat switched sides and joined the BJP (after 5 Surat councilors had done the same in February this year). It will be disastrous for the party is trying to set up organizational infrastructure to break the two-party monopoly in Gujarat and it is well-known that mid-level leaders are the backbone of any organization. Losing 150 of them in a single day can be bad for even an established party, let alone e newbie like AAP.  If that was not all, the same story repeated after the party's rally in Himachal. Just a couple of days later, Anoop Kesari, the president of AAP's state unit,  Satish Thakur, organization general secretary and Una president Iqbal Singh joined the BJP in a huge setback to the party.

Why is this happening? One big reason is that the BJP is wary of AAP gaining prominence in these states and taking over the Congress space to emerge as a strong competitor and is poaching on AAP leaders. The other reason is that, as Arvind Kejriwal said in the Himachal rally, the AAP does not know politics, it knows only work. It might sound good to say so in public rallies to give AAP a different and maybe better image. But when it comes to the battleground, not doing politics will not help AAP's cause. It faces a belligerent BJP with its well-oiled election machinery that is now in top gear following the excellent results in four out of the five states that went to the polls recently. It will not let AAP have it easy like Punjab where it was not a serious player. Hence, AAP will have to cover its bases even as it launches a frontal attack on the BJP. Otherwise it will keep losing its leaders to the bigger and stronger opponent and will not be able to set up a fighting unit in any of the states. 

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