Rajouri Garden bypoll: Victory is Baisakhi gift from people of Delhi to me, says Manjinder Singh Sirsa

Sirsa has always been close to the Badals in Punjab. Sources said this is the reason he was appointed advisor to deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal in April last year and given the status of minister of state.

Knowing what this victory means for the party with municipal polls around the corner, Sirsa called it a Baisakhi gift from the people of Delhi to him and his party. “The auspicious journey of getting rid of AAP has been started by people today,” he said.

Hitting out at AAP chief and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Sirsa said, “Kejriwal always blames PM Modi for not letting him work. But when he paid Rs 4 crore to (advocate Ram) Jethmalani and ate food worth Rs 13,000 per plate and samosas worth Rs 1 crore, he did not say Modi did not let him do this. It is only work that Modiji doesn’t let him do.”

He added that the CM always asked the people of Delhi before undertaking any work but now the people have told him what they want. “I regret that he still is holding on to power,” said the newly-elected MLA.

On the performance of the Congress in the bypoll, he said the party came last in the booth where Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken once voted from. Maken has won from the Rajouri Garden constituency thrice in the past. “I congratulate Rahul Gandhi if this is what the Congress believes is good performance,” he said.

The win gives the BJP its fourth MLA in the Delhi Assembly.