With court discharging him, Arvind Kejriwal regains 'imaandar' tag; to re-energise demoralised AAP

The court order in the alleged excise policy case will also enhance Kejriwal’s standing among Opposition leaders at the cost of the Congress

New Delhi: With a Delhi court dusting off corruption charges he was facing, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Arvind Kejriwal is all set to regain the moral ground on which he has built his party and political career.

The two-year-long ordeal has come to an end at an opportune time as it will re-energise a “demoralised” AAP’s Delhi cadre and act as a booster dose for Punjab partymen ahead of the 2027 elections. AAP’s national plans, an exercise that will enthuse the BJP for its anti-Congress content, will also get a boost.

The court order will also enhance Kejriwal’s standing among Opposition leaders at the cost of the Congress, which had campaigned against the AAP in Delhi polls, with Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi leading the attack and calling the AAP chief corrupt.

The Congress was quick to see the development with suspicion, as they read it as the BJP using “convenient allies” like the AAP to corner it ahead of elections in Punjab, Gujarat and Goa.

They juxtapose the prosecution sanction against senior leader P Chidambaram with Kejriwal’s case as well as Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren getting a stay on his trial in an Enforcement Directorate case. Only last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought to delink the Congress and other Opposition.

Built on the image of ‘imaandar rajneeti’ (honest politics), the AAP saw its popularity nosediving after the arrest of Kejriwal in March 2024, just ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, and the BJP going to town with ‘Seesh Mahal’ controversy — over renovation of the Chief Minister’s official residence —ahead of the Delhi Assembly polls.

The ‘aam aadmi’, influenced by a high-decibel campaign unleashed by the BJP and aided by the Congress, had shown the AAP the door in the Delhi Assembly elections after putting faith in Kejriwal’s brand of confrontationist politics for 10 years.

The court discharging him and his close aides, including former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, in the liquor scam will now allow Kejriwal a reset. It will quell any dissent in the party that showed up immediately after the Delhi polls, with some Punjab leaders making some noise.

It will not be difficult to predict that the AAP and Kejriwal will go to town to brandish their “honest politics” and how the BJP “hounded” them, jailing the top-five leaders of the party, all of whom have now been pronounced clean. Delhi BJP leaders will face the music, as they will be forced to explain the graft charges.

The immediate impact of the court order could see Kejriwal more in Delhi while continuing to have his focus set on Punjab where the AAP will be going to elections seeking another term. After the Delhi debacle, he had rarely been seen in Delhi while spending most of his time in Punjab.

The AAP campaign in Punjab will have more rigour, which will be music to the ears of the BJP that wants the Congress out of the power equation. With the BJP not in a position to assume power, the AAP is its best bet to keep the Congress away from power. The same will be the case in Goa and Gujarat, where the AAP could serve as a counter to Congress’ ambitions.