Delhi Elections Don't Mean Much For Indian Foreign Policy

WASHINGTON: The AAP's massive victory in the Delhi state elections is unlikely "to have an immediate impact on India's foreign and international economic policy issues", according to a US expert.

That's because its leader Arvind Kejriwal "took the broom to foreign investment in retail last time around", and so it's "no longer an issue", wrote Alyssa Ayres, senior fellow for India, Pakistan and South Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations.

"The rest of their campaign focused on domestic issues of infrastructure and governance which will have little connection to the world outside Delhi," noted Ayers, a former deputy assistant secretary of state.

"The main impact of the Delhi results on the national level will be felt in the BJP's response," she said. "And that may be very limited on the questions concerning foreign and international economic policy.

"Since the BJP has also made governance and anti-corruption a strong focus of their national platform, they differ little from the AAP on that count," Ayers said.

"It's the area of economic reforms that bear watching."
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