AAP effect: Congmen’s survey claims ‘no effect’ in Karnataka

Bangalore: An internal survey commissioned by a few Congress leaders from the city to assess the impact of the Aam Admi Party on the party’s prospects has virtually written it off in Bangalore and the rest of the state.

It claims AAP is not a threat as it has only a few members so far and those who have joined it have done so merely under peer pressure or to impress girlfriends! “Many of the AAP members belong to the BJP or Congress party and have joined it merely as a fad,” says a leader who was part of the survey.

“Before AAP came on the scene these groups of young boys used to be associated with the Namo brigade in colleges. They are carried away by popular mood,” adds a senior leader of the state Congress, asserting that their “desertion” does not mean the mainstream parties have lost any of their hardcore supporters.

He however admits that “this vulnerable section is most dangerous as it keeps punching political parties in a spurt of rebellion.” According to a party insider, this ‘fence sitting’ section generally accounts for about 10 to 15 per cent of the youth membership of every party in the state.

“The way they spread their bitterness on social networking sites about a particular party or a person results in attracting another 10 to 15 per cent of the audience, which can eat into nearly 25 per cent of the Congress party’s vote share in elections.

This is what happened in Delhi,” the leader observes, however, adding that if AAP had really caught the imagination of youngsters, it would not have merely 59,000 members, with 49,000 of them registering online.