New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party may have broken new ground in the Maharashtra gram panchayat elections but its role, at the end of the day, has been decidedly marginal. Though the party’s strike rate was impressive — it won 96 of the nearly 300 seats it contested — this was a mere drop in the 14,000 seat panchayat ocean. Yet, AAP seems keen to convey that this is an impressive result.The reason is simple. The party was born out of the India Against Corruption movement which had a large number of leaders from Maharashtra.And though it could not rise the way it wanted to in the state as a large number of those leaders left the party accusing it of being run by the ‘Delhi gang’, it has still managed to gain a toehold.The enthusiasm among party cadre is therefore understandable. In Delhi, the congratulatory messages issued by the central leaders and various party platforms gave the impression that the party had made major inroads into Maharashtra politics. However, as the social media posts of AAP leaders and their critics suggest, AAP is still nowhere close to its destination.Sharing a tweet of AAP’s National Executive member Preeti Sharma Menon, the national convener of the party and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal congratulated the Maharashtra unit for the win.Congratulations Maharashtra team and congrats to all winners. My best wishes yo all of u. https://t.co/a3A9m5afjG— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) January 19, 2021Rajya Sabha MP and AAP Political Affairs Committee member Sanjay Singh said it was really exciting that AAP had managed to win nearly 30% of the 300 gram panchayat seats it contested in Maharashtra.महाराष्ट्र में @AamAadmiParty 300 ग्राम पंचायत के सीट पर चुनाव लड़ी 96 सीट पर जीत हासिल की 30% सीट पर चुनाव जीतना अत्यंत उत्साह जनक है @RangaRachure @PreetiSMenon और @AAPMaharashtra टीम को हार्दिक बधाई @ArvindKejriwal की अगुवाई में पूरे देश में AAP का कारवाँ बढ़ेगा। pic.twitter.com/jvYp1NYTwi— Sanjay Singh AAP (@SanjayAzadSln) January 19, 2021He expressed hope that AAP’s area of influence would similarly expand across the country under the leadership of Kejriwal.The victory of its candidates in gram panchayats spread across Latur, Nagpur, Solapur, Nashik, Gondia, Chandrapur, Palghar, Hingoli, Ahmednagar, Jalna, Yavatmal and Bhandara districts of Maharashtra is significant for AAP since at the time of its inception, a large number of its prominent leaders came from these regions.The party was born out of the IAC, which was spearheaded by social reformist Anna Hazare, also from Maharashtra. However, taking advantage of the popularity the party gained during the Jan Lokpal agitation, Kejriwal and several other leaders had broken ranks from the agitation and floated AAP as a political party.Also read: Are Panchayat Elections in Maharashtra a Festival of Democracy or a Maratha Festival?However, soon after its birth, AAP began suffering from internal strife. In 2015, after prominent founding leaders like Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan were shown the door by the party, many of the leaders in Maharashtra saw that with their exit the interference of Delhi-based leaders in matters pertaining to Maharashtra would further grow.This signalled the departure of several other prominent faces from Maharashtra, including that of Mayank Gandhi, who had led the Anna Andolan in Maharashtra, along with prominent activist Medha Patkar. Some others like Maruti Bhapkar had expressed “disgust” at the way Yadav and Bhushan were treated while the likes of Anjali Damania quit the party.With many district and state-level leaders also leaving, it took a long time for AAP to revive its image in the state, which already has many prominent political parties such as Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Janata Party wielding power in their own pockets of influence.It is in this backdrop that AAP is now viewing the latest results with some hope.ईमानदार राजनीति की नींव हो रही मजबूत।@AAPMaharashtra को इस शानदार जीत के लिए बहुत बहुत बधाई! pic.twitter.com/lz09sbLAKk— AAP (@AamAadmiParty) January 19, 2021The party’s Maharashtra unit also issued a tweet giving out the details of the seats won in various districts.Wave of changeWave of @AamAadmiPartyWave for politics of @ArvindKejriwalIs sweeping slowly but steadily across India. @AjinkyaShinde18 @PreetiSMenon pic.twitter.com/QePWeGloy5— Rahul Mhambre (@RahulMhambre) January 19, 2021