Herald: What are AAP’s expectations for the forthcoming Assembly elections? So far AAP has only managed to win one ZP seat from the polls the party has contested? Why do you believe AAP will be able to make inroads this time?
Rahul Prabhu Mhambre: We are quite confident. Our vote share has increased after the ZP elections. After that, following the announcement of the first guarantee made by Arvind Kejriwal, a survey was conducted and we received great feedback. Today (Tuesday), Kejriwal made the announcement about the second guarantee and we are expecting even greater feedback. You saw the huge public turnout at Mapusa today.
H: Speaking of Mapusa, you are from the town will you be contesting the elections?
RM: If the party decides that I should contest, yes I would be willing to do so.
H: Looking at AAP across Goa, how many seats does the party expect to win?
RM: It’s too early to give any numbers, we are increasing our footprints across Goa, in one of the surveys, our vote share is 22 per cent and we are number two in Goa. Soon we will be number one. We are working towards winning as many seats as we can and you will see the results. We got great response for instance when we campaigned in the CM’s own constituency of Sanquelim. We got good responses in Valpoi, etc. From tomorrow (Wednesday), we are going to go booth-to-booth in each constituency to explain the schemes and we will be able to gauge the response better.
H: Will AAP consider any pre-poll alliance?
RM: No. Right now AAP is contesting the elections alone and we have a clear plan as to what we intend to do.
H: What happens if there is a fractured mandate post the elections and an alliance is required for the government to be formed? If that happens, will the party consider any post-poll alliance?
RM: It is too early to comment on that right now. Let the elections take place and then we shall see at that stage. But right now, we are firm on contesting alone.
H: By when can we expect AAP to announce the candidates?
RM: That will happen soon. By next month or so we should be in a position to make some announcements regarding who our candidates are.
H: Moving on to criticism that has been levelled against AAP. There is a perception that AAP is the B team of the BJP and will break the votes of those opposing the BJP candidates in constituencies, thus helping BJP win and return to power. What is your response?
RM: This is an old and repeated view against AAP, which is not true. In fact we have proved that AAP is the party that has constantly been taking on BJP. We are the A team and you have seen this in Delhi where BJP lost and AAP came to power. Wherever the party is based we are about AAP alone, be it in Punjab, Goa, etc.
H: There is also criticism that the party has seen an exodus of former workers, including the likes of ex-convenor Elvis Gomes. Many of these former members of AAP are the ones who are criticising the party now. How do you react to this?
RM: I would say that only a handful of persons have left since the time I took over as convenor a year ago. Regarding those who have left the party, we are thankful and respect the service they had done for the party during their time here. We have also had a large number of people join the party recently from all parts of Goa, which is a sign of the public’s sentiment towards AAP.
H: There is also resentment that while AAP criticises how politicians jump from one rival party to another, AAP has also taken in political leaders from rivals such as Pratima Coutinho and Mahadev Naik. What are the criteria for taking in new members?
RM: Whoever AAP Goa has taken, they understand what AAP is about, what we want to do for the people of Goa and they have accepted our philosophy and ideas and have thus joined. We are looking at expanding our party base and so we welcome new members.
H: You also have regional parties questioning why a party or Goa needs a high command in Delhi to dictate terms to Goans. Your response to that and the concern about AAP prioritising the views and demands of Goans over any instructions from Delhi.
RM: AAP is presenting a Goa model to the public and this is based on the problems faced by Goans in so many areas. We were the first to announce the free electricity scheme. None of these other regional parties or even the so-called national parties did that. After we announce our schemes, others follow. We have actively fought against the coal hub plan. Some regional parties are eager to cobble up alliances and you have seen what has happened in the past when regional parties, candidates did to the people’s mandate for the sake of an alliance. This could happen in the future too.
H: Finally, what are the issues AAP Goa is fighting for and wants to change?
RM: As Kejriwal announced today to the people of Goa, we are looking at addressing various issues such as unemployment, improving the education sector as we have done in Delhi, ensuring free electricity as announced earlier. There are other areas too like medical infrastructure which is lacking and you saw what happened during the pandemic. AAP volunteers were on the ground helping. We also have plans for revamping the water supply infrastructure. We have heard the complaints from affected people. Ours is a people-centric holistic plan for Goa.
