AAP's Balakrishnan on what went wrong

V Balakrishnan, AAP Bangalore Central Candidate on what went wrong for AAP countrywide and reasons for BJP's win

“The idea of AAP, a party born to fight corruption and crony capitalism, is very good and received a lot of acceptance. This is because it created a clear differentiator in the political fray. It demonstrated how a party can honestly and transparently fund a political campaign vs the traditional caste and money system. Importantly, AAP inspired the middle class to get into honest politics. I think the reason we lost out is because we were not able to communicate our party proposition across the country very effectively. The three main reasons why the BJP won is because people were sick of instability in the government and wanted a stable government. Second, there is a huge anti-corruption wave prevailing across the country as people are looking to wipe out corruption from the system. Third, the sheer money power of the BJP which went into advertising and marketing the Modi brand and BJP contributed to the party’s win.”

What's next on his agenda?

While I will continue to be an active member of AAP, I want to be involved in multiple things. I am running a Private Equity Fund and am also involved with MicroGraam, a microfinance company that works toward improving the livelihood of underprivileged people, of which I was made the chairman last year.

A good starting point for me now to strengthen our setup in Bangalore is to concentrate my energies on the BBMP elections coming up in Bangalore where corruption is rampant and which will help me establish a good connect with the people who do not want to tolerate corruption any more. We already have our Mission 2015 in place for the BBMP elections and are currently in the process of identifying good candidates who can lead the individual constituencies here. Another important task is to come up with an effective communication strategy for the people of Bangalore.

His mood now?

I am okay. I do my best in whatever it is that I take up and I have done my best with these elections. It is very important that one takes everything on one’s chin in life. The need of the hour is to meet more people, communicate better with all of them and try and convince them about AAP and what it can do for Bangalore and the country.

On corruption, post results?

There are two types of corruption prevalent in the country – Transactional corruption that can be brought down with the fear of law – AAP has managed to reduce transactional corruption by 70% in Delhi. However, crony capitalism is the second type of corruption where no one knows, for instance, where political parties are getting their funding from. This kind of corruption is very difficult to bring down and requires much longer time and effort to change.

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