From party workers to its most senior leaders, those in the BJP are emphatic that the party’s win in the Rajouri Garden Assembly bypoll is the “beginning of the end” for the Aam Aadmi Party in the capital. After winning the polls, Akali leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa, who fought on the BJP’s symbol, went to meet BJP national president Amit Shah, and then the Badals, to seek their blessings.
During a workers’ meeting at Ramlila Maidan last month, Shah had pointed to a map of India, saying that while the country was going saffron, Delhi continued to remain a “white spot”. He had said that in the next elections, the BJP should seize the opportunity to wipe out AAP. The performance in Rajouri Garden, party insiders said, is being seen as a step in this direction.
On Thursday, senior BJP leaders called the victory a referendum on AAP and demanded the resignation of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
“This was a contest to decide whether the CM should remain in his post or quit. He should resign and seek a re-contest from the New Delhi seat — I guarantee he won’t be able to win. This victory shows how people will vote in municipal elections,” said West Delhi MP Parvesh Verma.
Asked about Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia’s remark that people were angry because the AAP MLA Jarnail Singh had gone to Punjab, a confident Sirsa said, “Sisodia Jarnail ko excuse na banaye, khud dobaara apni constituency lad ke dekh le, koi shanka nahi rahegi (Sisodia should not make Jarnail an excuse for losing. He should re-contest from his seat and then all his doubts will be cleared).”
The seat was vacated after Singh retired to contest the Punjab Assembly elections.
Meanwhile, soon after the results came in, BJP leaders got down to analysing the victory and assess what impact it would have on the civic polls. Former Delhi unit chief Satish Upadhyay went as far as to say that the verdict meant people would back BJP in the municipal polls as well as the 2020 Assembly polls.
Manjit Singh GK, president of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee, attacked Kejriwal for abandoning Delhi for Punjab. “People reposed too much trust in him and now the faith has gone. This is the first nail in the coffin for AAP,” he said.
Upadhyay also mocked Congress for coming in second, given that Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken has been an MLA thrice from the Rajouri seat. “At his own polling booth, Congress came third. This should be embarrassing for Maken,” he said.