New Delhi, May 21 -- After three months of near-total absence from the political stage, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief and former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal finally reappeared in Delhi on Tuesday, launching the party's new students wing - the Association of Students for Alternative Politics (ASAP) - at Constitution Club. The AAP national convener, dressed in his trademark half-sleeved shirt and trousers, addressed the gathering for 12 minutes before leaving without interacting with the students who had come from Delhi, Haryana, and Punjab. The launch marked Kejriwal's first public appearance in the Capital since the AAP's resounding defeat in the Delhi assembly elections in February - a result that saw the party, which ruled Delhi with a brute majority from 2015 to 2025, lose its stronghold. Kejriwal had himself lost the New Delhi seat to BJP's Parvesh Verma by 4,199 votes, and the party's tally fell from 62 to just 22 seats. In his absence from the Assembly, the AAP named former CM Atishi as the Leader of Opposition. But Kejriwal's retreat from the public eye has raised eyebrows - and questions - even within his own party. "He used to dominate the city's political discourse - addressing the media regularly, clashing with the Centre, steering strategy meetings. His silence now is deafening," said Tanvir Aeijaz, associate professor of political science at Ramjas College. "Even when the AAP wasn't in power in the past, Kejriwal was never invisible. That has changed." A senior party leader, requesting anonymity, said Kejriwal is now focused almost entirely on Punjab, where the party is preparing for the 2027 assembly polls. "With Delhi lost, Punjab is our political lifeline. Kejriwal wants to ensure the AAP government delivers enough to be re-elected there. Delhi won't see a major election for the next four years, so he is prioritising Punjab," the leader said. Another AAP leader expressed frustration over the lack of access to Kejriwal. "It's difficult to get an appointment with him. There's growing discontent within the party. A political organisation shouldn't go dormant between elections. It must stay connected with its cadre," he said. And while he remains absent from public glare, the AAP appears to be losing even more ground. Late last month, the AAP lost its control over the Municipal Corporation of Delhi as it boycotted the mayoral election amid a string of defections by the its councillors. On May 17, 15 AAP councillors resigned and announced a new political outfit, citing poor internal coordination and a lack of communication with the leadership. Another councillor resigned three days later. AAP has blamed the BJP for orchestrating the defections. But not everyone agrees with the idea that Kejriwal has gone missing. A third AAP leader said Kejriwal has continued to meet party functionaries and attended at least three public events since February: the Shaheedi Diwas function on March 23, Ambedkar Jayanti on April 14, and the ASAP launch on Tuesday. "He was also occupied with his daughter's wedding in April," the leader said. On Tuesday, Kejriwal laid out his vision for ASAP - a platform he said would help India's youth build a new political culture. He argued that mainstream politics - as practised by the BJP and the Congress - is the root cause of most of India's problems. "Some people think politics doesn't concern them. But the electricity you get, the education your children receive - it's all tied to politics. That's why the youth must engage with it," he said. He contrasted the AAP's approach - which he described as "alternative politics" - with that of traditional parties. "When we were in power, Delhi had uninterrupted electricity. Now people are facing 4-5-hour power cuts. Within three months of BJP coming to power, schools hiked fees and hired bouncers to block students from entering. That's mainstream politics," he said....