In the run-up to Delhi elections, Rajya Sabha MP and Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh speaks about the multiple challenges facing his party in a conversation with Sreenivasan Jain.

What do the party’s new welfare announcements mean, considering that former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had accepted that his government’s record is not perfect? Singh admits these schemes are yet to be implemented, but they are poll guarantees from Kejriwal. “People will trust them.”

Asked about the need for such a scheme focused on women right before elections, and whether the idea was taken from the BJP, the AAP leader says, “What will you say if I tell you that the BJP copies us across the country without any implementation?”

The AAP has accused the Congress of taking money from the BJP to fund its Delhi campaign. But where is the proof? Singh says there are two reasons. “In the New Delhi constituency, (BJP candidate) Parvesh Verma distributed money, sheets, shoes, and glasses. Should (Congress candidate) Sandeep Dikshit not have raised a complaint?...When (BJP’s Kalkaji candidate) Ramesh Bidhuri hurled slurs at Priyanka Gandhi, who objected to it?...Did you hear a word of objection?”

After successive victories in Haryana and Maharashtra, has the BJP got its mojo back? “A poll victory is no basis to claim full public trust. You can win an election due to many reasons…they won Haryana with a 0.8 difference…this means there is a large public consensus in Haryana against the BJP.”

The AAP was formed as an anti-corruption front. Have the charges of corruption against its leaders hurt its image? Singh, who was in jail in the liquor policy case, claims that agencies have been misused and party leaders have been harassed for months and years. “If I say that I have given Rs 50 crore to (PM Narendra) Modi as a bribe, will there be an inquiry?”

They also talk about the AAP’s ideology, induction of leaders from other parties, and its position on immigrants.

Watch.

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