SHIMLA:  Many BJP and Congress workers have joined AAP for the last three days, says Aam Aadmi Party. If all goes as being talked about in AAP circles, the fire-brand leader from Kangra, Major Vijay Singh Mankotia may join AAP to lead it in Himachal at Chambi ground in Shahpur on April 23.  It is here at Major's home turf that AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal has planned  his first big public meeting to consolidate gains from the Mandi Road show to make a major political  bid from Kangra, Himachal’s biggest district that sends 16 MLAs to Vidhan Sabha.  

Chambi Shahpur  is the karambhumi  of Major (Retd) Vijay Singh Mankotia. AAP has eyed Kangra as people can  rally behind Major as he is “a clean leader,

a decorated solider with a zero tolerance to corruption” and has a stature to take on the might of BJP and Congress in Himachal Pradesh.

However, Major as well as Kejriwal have not opened their cards publicly so far.  

The proposed April 23 rally in Chambi Shahpur has set the political circles on fire, both within the ruling BJP and Congress. BJP’s Jai Ram Thakur government faced an anti-incumbency factor, while Congress remained rudderless  at the centre following its crushing defeat in  four assembly polls of UP, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa,  and the party remained  “inactive and a divided house” in Himachal, said analysts.   

AAP, on the other hand, is slowly but surely coming out from its initial set back it received in second week of April

when some of its party office-bearers had deserted the party.

They joined BJP in the presence of Union Broadcasting minister Anurag Singh Thakur  and Minakshi Lekhi in New Delhi.

As a result, AAP had dissolved its working committee and has yet to reconstitute it.  

If one goes by recent exodus of BJP and Congress workers/supporters to AAP, it looks the fledgling party is now regaining momentum in Himachal. It is creating an “atmosphere of change and positing as a “viable third alternative” in its bid to break the traditional BJP-Congress “political hide-and-seek show” this time.

It goes without saying that AAP’s strength will be judged, first, in the coming Shimla municipal corporation elections. AAP is seeking to contest all the 41 seats of the corporation for the first time in Himachal Pradesh.

To give a push to its bid for the state assembly elections,  AAP has surprisingly sped up its membership drive. 

Kejriwal made an impressive  inroads in Himachal in the Mandi road show on April 6, a day ahead BJP celebrated its foundation day on April 7.

AAP has managed to get “exodus of Congress and BJP workers from Una, Sulah, Dharampur and other places, going from these parties to its fold in Himachal Pradesh. This exodus is giving sleepless nights to the ruling BJP and Congress.

AAP has managed to create a debate and an "atmosphere for change in every nook and cranny from Kaza to Kangra  and from Chambi to  Lambi that it is a party that can make a difference", said an NGO leader from Kangra, who has been working with the community over the years.

For one thing, BJP and Congress lack "leaders  tall enough in Himachal",  who can pull the crowds to make them rally behind them, they claim. BJP will depend on Prime Minister Narender Modi for pulling the crowds and clear the AAP airs in elections. Congress lacks leader to the stature of late Virbhadra Singh, who had appeal all across the state.    

The AAP is upbeat about the hill state due to people showing  their willingness to join the party after AAP swept Punjab elections, a wave creating a positive atmosphere in Himachal for the party.  In Dharampur, Balvinder Singh, ex-DSP, Vikas Sharma, vice-president Congress, Pradeep Kumar, Congress, Raj Kumar Congress and their hundred supports joined AAP in the presence of state election incharge, Ajay Dutt.

Dalit Mahapanchyat’s secretary, Rajinder Bhatia along with Yoya Morcha  and booth level workers of BJP and Congress workers joined AAP, claimed Ajay Dutt.    

AAP state leader Durgesh Pathak claim that people are influenced by “work politics of Arvind Kejriwal. BJP ST Morcha leader Pankaj Kaku, Congress spokesperson Rajiv Gautam, senior journalist Pankaj Pandit along with the BJP’s 32 Pradhans and Up-pradhans joined AAP in Una on April 16, he claimed.       

In Sulah,  Rup Rekha, Saroj Kumar, both councilors, Balbir Singh, Youth Congress, Milap Chand, ex-OBC president and over hundred workers joined AAP on April 16, said Satender Tonger, an AAP Leader.

Taking a swipe, AAP leaders say that  BJP is so worried now that they are moving from house to house to put up the name plates of the workers with the party symbol at the top of their house door so that they donot leave the party.  

Satyandra Jain says that Arvind Kejriwal will address his first big public meeting in Chambi ground in Shahpur in Kangra on April 23 and did not disclose other details of the Chambi Agenda.