BJP’s Twin Doubts Cast Shadow on Delhi Win Hopes

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PM narendra Modi, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Image credit X.com

PM narendra Modi, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Image credit X.com

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AAP Faces Two-Front Poll Battle in Delhi

By Manish Anand

New Delhi, February 3: Former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is facing uncomfortable moments on poll turf. The ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) faces serious test in Delhi with a clear anti-incumbency factor raising its head.

On at least two occasions, women in outer Delhi brought blushes to Kejriwal during campaign trails. Women confronted him, asking why temporary workers in the municipal body given permanent job and electricity bills not waived off.

The proverbial curse in Delhi, often stated by political observers, is that whoever rules the MCD loses the Assembly elections. Exceptions indeed apply, but largely the ruling dispensation at the MCD found on losing side in the Assembly elections.

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The AAP is ruling the MCD since 2022. In 2020 Assembly elections, the AAP explained inability to clean Delhi because the BJP had been in power in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.

But the AAP is now heading both the MCD and the Delhi government. The public perception of the MCD remains that of an epitome of corruption and incompetence. The AAP in the MCD has not improved the dark image of the municipal body.

That explains Prime Minister Narendra Modi telling the BJP at an RK Puram rally yesterday “this is the golden opportunity to win Delhi elections”. Kejriwal appears also admitting a wave of anti-incumbency against the AAP government.

“We gave three Kejriwal guarantees in the 2020 Assembly elections about cleaning Yamuna, improving conditions of roads. We couldn’t fulfil them, because we were sent to the jail,” said Kejriwal at the launch of the AAP manifesto.

To make situations worse for Kejriwal, the Opposition ally, the Congress, which struck a pre-poll alliance in the Lok Sabha elections seven months ago, is unsparing in attacks on the AAP. “Delhi model of development is fake,” said former Union Minister and senior Congress leader Ajay Maken.

Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has accused Kejriwal of corruption and lavish lifestyle while partaking BJP’s twin poll planks of “Sheehsmahal and Sharab Ghotala”.

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But the BJP still appears dogged with twin doubts. “If the BJP were to lose the elections, blame lack of a CM face and party infighting in the Delhi unit,” said a senior BJP functionary.

Modi trumpeted Union Budget in his RK Puram rally yesterday with appeal to the middle class. But the BJP leader argued that the party is yet to find a face to counter the middle-class image of Kejriwal.

The BJP in infighting in Delhi is also age-old, for the national capital being turfs for too may satraps within the saffron outfit. To win Delhi, the BJP will need to substantially improve percentage of votes polled and also hope that the Congress brings down the AAP from above 50 per cent level.

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