There does not seem to be any better option for the Aam Aadmi Party than its supremo Arvind Kejriwal to be in the Rajya Sabha from Punjab. Kerjiwal in Rajya Sabha will not be a bad idea. Given his command over subjects and the way he articulates issues effortlessly with firmness, will make him an asset for the upper house of the Parliament.
However, he may face some resistance from his political opponents in Punjab, where the vacancy exists. His detractors can use this move against him, arguing that he fielded a sitting Rajya Sabha candidate for a by-election to create a vacancy for himself.
After the vacancy was created from Punjab following the election of one of the members from the state Sanjeev Arora to legislative assembly in Ludhiana West by-election, there were strong speculations that Kejriwal will himself go to the upper house. However, immediately after the declaration of the by-election results, Kejriwal said publicly that he will not be going to the Rajya Sabha.
During the entire campaign for the by-election, the opposition parties, including the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party, had claimed that the AAP was fighting the by-election to create a vacancy for the party chief. Neither Kejriwal nor anyone from the party refuted the opposition claims during the campaign.
While the AAP and its leadership are not known to get cowed down by the opposition criticism, the party appears to be moving cautiously about fielding the right candidate for the Rajya Sabha, preferable from the state itself to fight off the narrative of promoting non-Punjabis at the cost of Punjabis.
The AAP is being accused of having sent “outsiders” to Rajya Sabha from Punjab, including Raghav Chadha and Sandeep Pathak. Both were in charge of the state from time to time. While Chadha led the party to an impressive win in 2022 assembly elections, Pathak remained in charge of the party in the state till the recent past before he was moved to Chhattisgarh, his home state.
The AAP should not feel defensive about nominating Kejriwal from Punjab. He will not be the first leader to get elected from a different state than the one he lives in. There are umpteen examples of prominent leaders getting elected to Rajya Sabha from the states they did not reside in.
Former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh was elected to Rajya Sabha from Assam. The current union minister of state in the Railways Ravneet Singh Bittu, who belongs to Punjab, is an RS MP from Rajasthan. Congress general secretary Randeep Surjewala, who belongs to Haryana is also an RS MP from Rajasthan. Congress treasurer Ajay Maken who belongs to Delhi, is an RS member from Karnataka.
Kejriwal being the AAP supremo and having founded and built up the party from the scratch should have all the right to get elected to the Rajya Sabha from anywhere. He is the national convenor of a national party.
Someone like Kejriwal in the RS will be an impactful voice from the opposition benches. While the Leader of Opposition in the RS, Mallikarjun Kharge does make an impact, with someone like Kejriwal also being in opposition ranks will certainly make a lot of difference and add to the opposition arsenal.
Also read: AAP exits ‘INDIA’ to avoid getting overshadowed by Congress
Presence in the Rajya Sabha will further enhance the political stature of the AAP supremo. He has already outgrown the stature of a chief minister having occupied that position for over ten years in Delhi. He should be, and in all likelihood, looking for a national role for himself. With the “opposition” remaining in a fluid state, he should be positioning himself as a potential leader from the opposition ranks to challenge Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
However, right now Kejriwal’s rival is not Modi, but Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. The two are contemporaries in age. While Gandhi is 55, Kejriwal is 56. Unlike Gandhi who inherited the party with a great political legacy, Kejriwal created everything from the scratch himself. Also, Kejriwal at times, has taken pragmatic positions rising above partisan politics like welcoming the abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution. He understands the middle class pulse and psyche better than many others in the opposition ranks.
So far, the AAP’s stated position has been that Kejriwal will not be going to the Rajya Sabha. But in politics nothing is final and nothing is predictable till it does not happen. There is a possibility that the party may “request” Kejriwal to contest the Rajya Sabha election himself. And if he does that, it will be for the greater good of parliamentary democracy. Anyone else, no matter who s/he may be, will certainly not be better than the AAP supremo when it comes to taking on the government.
Parliament needs such people who can counter the government. Kejriwal may have his own shortcomings, but as a parliamentarian he will definitely be quite impactful. Instead of being guarded or weary of the opposition criticism, the AAP should send its supremo to the parliament instead of anyone else.
There cannot be a better platform for a national leader aspiring for a national role, than the parliament, whether the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha.
Election notification for the lone vacant Rajya Sabha seat in Punjab may be issued any time.
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