BJP plans new campaign to take on AAP after bypoll loss
Adesh Gupta has also started ‘mandal pravas’ (stay in each municipal wards) to connect with the party workers and supporters.
In the light of municipal bypolls debacle, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is gearing up to take on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) with a new campaign plan and new strategy.
Senior leaders aware of the matter said the Delhi BJP is planning to launch a campaign next month in which it plans to publicise the works done by the three party ruled municipal corporations “despite the fund crunch”. In the same campaign, the party also seeks to highlight the “failure of the AAP government in Delhi to deliver on its key promises”. The strategy for the municipal elections will be discussed in the Delhi BJP’s two-day long working committee meeting starting from March 12.
Municipal polls are scheduled to be held in Delhi next year. In the bypolls to five wards, results of which were announced on March 2, the BJP could not manage to win a single seat. While the AAP won 4 wards, the Congress secured win on one seat.
Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta said, “We are planning a mass outreach programme. We recently completed the puzzle parking in Lajpat Nagar. We have taken several steps to address the sanitation issues. We now plan to tell people about the achievements of the three corporations despite the fund crunch. We will start a campaign around mid-April when the corporations will complete four years of its third term in power.”
Gupta has also started ‘mandal pravas’ (stay in each municipal wards) to connect with the party workers and supporters. “We have to go door-to-door and tell people about two things: achievements of the central government and the municipal corporations, and failure of the AAP government to deliver on its promises,” said Gupta, who will hold meetings in all municipal wards.
Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said there was a need to counter the “lies” of the AAP government. “Some of the policies of the AAP government are not citizen-friendly. We have to expose them. The government has paralysed the three municipal corporations by not releasing funds on time.From now on, as a responsible opposition while criticising the Delhi government for its failures, we will also offer our vision for those issues.”
With over a year left for the municipal polls, senior party leaders say that there is a lot of time to strengthen the cadre and plan mass outreach programmes. “We are working on a plan to strengthen our base, especially in wards where we are not in power. In the upcoming working committee meeting, we will discuss the action plan and also work out a strategy for its implementation,” said Harsh Malhotra, Delhi BJP general secretary.
Senior AAP leader Durgesh Pathak, however, rejected BJP’s contentions and said the recent bypoll results have shown that the people of Delhi are firmly supporting chief minister Arvind Kejriwal. “The people of Delhi are very happy with the development works done by the Kejriwal government. In the recent MCD bypolls, the AAP won four of the five wards while BJP got zero. The BJP is ruling the MCDs for the last 15 years and today, the MCDs have no money even to pay the salaries of their employees. The citizens of Delhi are tired and fed up with the corruption in the BJP-ruled MCDs. On the other hand, the Kejriwal government has fulfilled all its promises.”