Ashwini M Sripad By

BENGALURU: The Aam Aadmi Party’s spectacular victory in Delhi is likely to inspire its Karnataka unit to make a serious bid for at least some seats in the upcoming BBMP elections.

Admittedly, the party has no face like Arvind Kejriwal to draw the masses in Karnataka, but it hopes to connect with citizens through its initiative ‘Bombat Bengaluru’. Bombat is Bengaluru slang for fantastic, fabulous.

Even a few Congress leaders expect AAP to make a mark in the elections, expected to be held in two or three months. The current BBMP council’s term ends in April and election dates will be announced soon.

Prithvi Reddy, state AAP spokesman, said, “In Delhi, people rejected conventional politics. In Bengaluru, we cannot copy and paste the same strategy. We need to build the party from the booth level, and solve people’s problems.”

He said instead of the party jumping into the fray, citizens should seek its participation in the election. “We have some months left (for the polls), and hope to reach out to people,” he said.

Ravikrishna Reddy, who had contested the Lok Sabha elections as an AAP candidate from Bengaluru Rural, said the victory in Delhi would strengthen the party in Karnataka. Referring to Kejriwal’s ‘Dialogue Delhi’ initiative, where AAP volunteers met people from all walks to put together a programme, Reddy said ‘Bombat Bengaluru’ would work on similar lines.

“In the past, caste and cash politics have played a big role in the elections. But in Delhi, neither worked,” he said.AAP will join hands with like-minded organisations, and its first impact in Karnataka will be felt in Bengaluru, he said.

Delhi Strategy

Mahantesh Arali, who works as a senior system administrator in a multi-national company, was one of 180 AAP volunteers from Bengaluru who participated in the Delhi campaign.

“I took leave and was in Delhi for 16 days. We got to witness innovative ideas and technology, which we can use for the BBMP elections,” he said. AAP hosted events like Dance for Democracy and Play for Change, where volunteers would sing, dance and perform on the streets. It preferred small meetings to big rallies. “Even here, we can conduct small meetings at the ward level,” he said.

Umashankar Guru, techie and AAP member who spent 10 days in Delhi, said the party has been active at the ground level in Bengaluru for the past nine months. “Our people are trying to help people access government services without paying bribes. We are not just doing their work, but are also enlightening them on how to go about it without brokers,” he told Express.

But people in Bengaluru are not as politically involved as Delhiites. This is the biggest challenge, but AAP hopes to overcome it, he said.

BUT time may not be on ITS SIDE: EXPERT

Ashwin Kumar, political strategist, said the Aam Aadmi Party’s victory showed that the BJP had bungled badly by bringing Kiran Bedi into the picture at the last moment.

“The AAP has a strong base in Delhi. Some presence was also evident in Punjab during the Lok Sabha elections,” he said. In Bengaluru, AAP can win some seats if they put up good candidates who have the capacity to convince their voters, he said. The BBMP elections are set to take place in the next few months, and Kejriwal’s performance might not be strong enough to swing the BBMP elections, Ashwin Kumar observed.