How PM Modi's magic shattered Arvind Kejriwal and his third-term hope in Delhi?

Brand Arvind Kejriwal which has wielded immense influence in the past three Delhi Assembly elections and also swept the city civic elections, has wilted under the PM Narendra Modi-led campaign. Not only did Kejriwal lose his traditional New Delhi seat to BJP's Parvesh Verma, but his charisma failed to take many AAP contestants, including Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain, over the victory line.

The implications of the loss of 'Delhi Darbar' may go far and beyond the Capital as the AAP may face an existential crisis unless Kejriwal manages to take control of the discontent that may brew within the party. The disintegration of the AAP in Punjab is being described by experts as a strong possibility in the near future. The AAP's repeated failure in the Parliamentary elections in Delhi had exposed that it may not remain undefeated forever, yet it took the BJP three elections to steam-roll a young political outfit that had emerged from an anti-corruption movement and established itself as the most successful political startup of the country.

The current Delhi Assembly election was the toughest test for Kejriwal who had arrived on Delhi's political scape with a promise of a fresh approach and wave of clean governance sans VIP culture. An offshoot of an anti-corruption campaign of Anna Hazare in 2011, Brand Kejriwal proved to be fourth time unlucky. The AAP's fourth attempt at capturing the 'Dilli Darbar' failed amid a strong anti-incumbency, poor performance of MLAs, and the party chief's growing faith in turncoats from other parties. The fact that the youngest of the three parties in Delhi was keen to field dissidents or old war horses from the BJP and Congress, reportedly on a third of the 70 seats, reflected Kejriwal's own admission about the poor performance of about 20 of his MLAs.

The induction of almost a dozen former BJP and Congress MLAs into the AAP also reflected Kejriwal's realisation that his charisma was no longer enough to get any candidate or non-performing sitting MLA elected. Virtually pitted against PM Modi, Kejriwal knew it was going to be the toughest battle of his political career and despite his best efforts to champion the vote bank politics of free welfare schemes and freebies, he was handed down a historic defeat.

Kejriwal had no answers to PM Modi's guarantee that no freebie or welfare scheme would be stopped after the BJP comes to power. Despite the BJP's growing desperation to come to power in Delhi, Kejriwal seemed to be in no mood to let pundits write his political obituary just yet -- not even in the backdrop of the corruption allegations levelled by rivals and jail stays of his and his cabinet colleagues. However, a crucial chapter in Kejriwal's political career and the AAP's growth has come to an end, paving the way for the BJP to rule the city.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DNA staff and is published from IANS)