With several INDIA bloc parties backing the Aam Aadmi Party for the February 5 Assembly elections in Delhi, Trinamool Congress and Samajwadi Party leaders are set to campaign for the Arvind Kejriwal-led outfit, leaving aside the Congress, the largest constituent of the opposition bloc.

Formed ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls to challenge the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the INDIA bloc includes the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Samajwadi Party (SP) as its key constituents, among others.

Campaign Strategy and Key Players

Actor-politician and TMC MP from Asansol, Shatrughan Sinha, will canvass for AAP in at least three constituencies on February 1-2. These include former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s constituency New Delhi, Chief Minister Atishi’s Kalkaji, and Jangpura, where the party has fielded its senior leader Manish Sisodia.

Sinha, who hails from Bihar, could mobilize Delhi’s Purvanchali voters, a term that refers to primarily Bhojpuri-speaking migrants from Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh. The Purvanchalis form an influential vote-bank in the capital.

Samajwadi Party’s Support

SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, along with his party MPs, will campaign for the ruling party candidates ahead of the elections. While Yadav will join Kejriwal for a roadshow in Rithala on January 30, several other SP MPs, including Iqra Hasan from Kairana, will join AAP in its campaign trail.

Impact on INDIA Bloc

Though Congress is a key constituent of the INDIA bloc of which SP is also a crucial member, the Akhilesh Yadav-led party will only campaign for AAP, which is locked in a direct contest with Congress and BJP in Delhi. The move reflects further alienation of the Congress within the opposition bloc it led during last year’s Lok Sabha polls.

The AAP and Congress had unsuccessfully contested four and three seats, respectively, in last year’s general elections under a seat-sharing pact in Delhi with BJP sweeping all the seven seats. Fissures appeared in the opposition alliance last year when several parties in it backed TMC supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to head the grouping led by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.