New Delhi: The BJP may be oozing oodles of confidence in public when it comes to Delhi elections, but the poll sops it has announced tell a different story. The sops – bribe to voters if you please - being offered by the party betray a sense of nervousness within the state unit.
The NDA government’s decision to approve a proposal revising pay scales of Delhi Administration Subordinate Services just hours before the Election Commission announced the poll schedule for Delhi speaks a lot. The timing has given a sense that BJP is desperate to win Delhi at any cost. A majority of the government employees had moved away from the Congress and sided with the AAP in the 2013 assembly elections; the BJP hopes to cash in on this pre-poll gift to woo them to its side.
“It is a poll gimmick by the NDA government,” said Arvinder Singh Lovely, Delhi Congress chief. “It is not done with any other aim except getting votes in the upcoming elections, people will see through this,” he added.
The BJP leadership is still divided over projecting a ‘face’ for their Delhi campaign. Naresh Sharma/Firstpost
The BJP had polled over 33 percent votes in the last assembly elections, the most by any party but had failed to win a majority on its own with 32 seats in the 70-member assembly. It was the Narendra Modi wave in 2014 general elections that helped the party win all seven seats in Delhi with over 46 percent of votes being polled for them. However, the decision of the AAP not to contest other state assembly election and focus solely on Delhi has made the battle tougher for the saffron party. While the AAP and the Congress have made it clear who would be their first choice for the top job – it’s Arvind Kejriwal for the former and Ajay Maken for the latter - the BJP leadership is still divided over projecting a ‘face’ for their Delhi campaign.
The lack of confidence in their own team was evident when the Union Cabinet decided to regularise almost 900 unauthorised colonies in Delhi two weeks ago. Every political party has promised to do the same if they come to power, and BJP clearly is in no mood to take any chances. The aim is to corner a sizeable chunk (25-30%) of the electorate who do not have proper and official access to basic amenities. The migrant voter has also been kept in the scheme of things by BJP, the ‘Chhath’ festival celebrated predominantly in Eastern UP and Bihar has now been declared as a public holiday. The Delhi BJP has announced the opening of a helpline for ‘Poorvanchalis’ (people from eastern UP) which will give them better access to law and order officials.
“There is a tough fight in Delhi and the BJP knows that the AAP cannot be taken lightly. The Congress has a lot of work to do,” said Tarit Prakash, Director of Voters Mood Research. “AAP has started their campaign much before the BJP so they have a head start, the onus is on the latter to convert their goodwill of 2014 into votes in 2015,” he added.
The AAP has been smart by targeting the weak areas of the BJP. Just a day before the much- hyped rally of PM Modi at Ramlila grounds last Saturday Kejriwal had questioned Modi on the issue of giving “statehood” to Delhi. The new political outfit has kept the pressure on BJP on the issues of providing cheap power and water to the residents of Delhi.
“They promised to bring down electricity rates by 30 percent, instead it has gone up by 15 percent,” said Kejriwal, adding, “We reduced the power tariff by almost half, now people have to decide whom to choose." To his credit, Kejriwal had increased subsidy to 50 percent on power consumption till 400 units, and managed to provide relief on water even though it was restricted to NDMC areas. The party has been promising the same across Delhi if given a mandate.
While the BJP is banking on the charisma of Modi to see them through, the AAP is ready to throw him a challenge. The Congress too has announced a change of guard at the helm in Delhi and the poll bugle has already been sounded. The BJP is now realising that simply making promises is not good enough, in trying to come good on them lies their real challenge.
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