Thirty-one-year-old Chartered Accountant Raghav Chadha quickly became the young face of the Aam Aadmi Party as its national spokesperson. The Rajender Nagar candidate who unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha elections last year, talks to Somrita Ghosh about Assembly polls being a different ballgame for the party and the issues that will drive the votes in the city.
What made you contest from Rajinder Nagar? What issues are you addressing in your constituency?
It was the party’s decision that I must contest from Rajinder Nagar and I bowed down to the wishes of my leaders. Rajinder Nagar is a place where I was born and raised. My family has lived here for almost 65 years. I will be presenting a detailed, manifesto in which I have divided my constituency in seven areas.
The sitting MLA is also from your party. Is there a possibility of a rift?
The party gives different responsibilities to different people. The roles keep changing. He (MLA Vijender Garg Vijay) has made a public appeal asking for support for me. I was the party’s youngest spokesperson and then I was chosen to contest in Lok Sabha elections. The party has a different, more important role for him (Vijay).
You contested in LS election from South Delhi but lost. What did you learn from your defeat?
Vidhan Sabha election and Lok Sabha elections are completely different. You cannot compare the two. The issues are different, the choice of voter is different. The sentiments are going to be different this time. All those who questioned ‘Modi versus Who’ are now asking ‘Kejriwal versus Who’. There is no alternative to (Arvind) Kejriwal in Delhi. And therefore everybody, even the BJP supporters are voting for AAP in Delhi this time.
What is your stance on the BJP and the Congress?
Congress is irrelevant. It does not exist in Delhi. As far as BJP is concerned, it is far behind AAP in this election. There are three things that BJP does not have – a track record of performance, a concrete vision for the upcoming 5 years and a charismatic and dynamic leader like Arvind Kejriwal.
When there were incidents of violence during anti- CAA protests, prominent AAP leaders chose not to be too vocal on the issue. Why is that?
We condemn all sort of violence. We castigated the Delhi Police. We have registered our protest and have put forth tered our viewpoint with the people on this issue. State elections are fought on state issues. Issues that concern the daily life of people like water, electricity, education, transport, security and healthcare. These are the issues on which people of Delhi will vote.
What will be your priorities if you win this election?
All areas are different. For example, Old and New Rajinder Nagar have issues like stray dogs and insufficient parking. In other areas, there are water supply and sewage problems. So, these will be on top. A public grievance management team has been set up to identify sections with scope for improvement and to better understand people’s issues.