Delhi polls | Cong, AAP turncoats are BJP's trump card to break Kejriwal's citadel

Facing one of the most formidable electoral challenges in the upcoming Delhi Assembly polls, the BJP is not only employing the strategy of its opponents – AAP and Congress – but also fielding their former leaders in the electoral arena.

Out of power in the national capital for nearly 26 years, the BJP has realised that it will need to expand its social and electoral base to stage a comeback. Moreover, to break its losing streak, the BJP has allotted tickets to former AAP and Congress leaders to boost its electoral prospects in Delhi.

Out of the 29 candidates on the first list of the BJP, nearly half of them have either joined the BJP after deserting AAP or Congress or have been active in the party at the national level.

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The BJP leadership has fielded two-time MP Parvesh Verma against AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal in New Delhi constituency and former South Delhi MP Ramesh Bidhuri against Chief Minister Atishi in Kalkaji Assembly seat.

Not an easy contest

The BJP’s first list reflects a realization that they are up against formidable opponents in AAP and Congress in Delhi.

Apart from Bidhuri and Verma, some other prominent names include former AAP ministers Raaj Kumar Anand and Kailash Gehlot. Similarly, the BJP has fielded former Congress leaders Arvinder Singh Lovely, Tarvinder Singh Marwah and Raj Kumar Chauhan.

The BJP has fielded three former AAP leaders, three former Congress leaders, and five former MPs and national office-bearers of the party, apart from former Shiromani Akali Dal leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa.

Replicating strategy

This is not the first time that the BJP has fielded national office-bearers and former parliamentarians in a state Assembly election. The strategy was first used in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan polls in December 2023, just before the Lok Sabha polls, when the BJP wanted to send a message that it could defeat the INDIA bloc, especially the Congress, on its own.

“If we look at our first list, we have to realise that we are a national party and all BJP members are first party workers and functionaries. It is true that some of our leaders did not get tickets during the Lok Sabha polls, but they are prominent members of the Delhi BJP. Our central leadership felt that these leaders will be more effective in the state politics and help BJP win the elections emphatically,” Delhi BJP chief spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor told The Federal.

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Populist schemes

The Delhi BJP unit is gearing up to announce a slew of populist schemes that have helped the party win elections in other states.

After the success of Ladli Behna Yojana in Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, and Maharashtra recently, a similar direct benefit transfer scheme is on the cards for women in the national capital.

Realizing that the AAP had won elections in Delhi on the strength of its populist schemes, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took the lead and announced that if the BJP won the Delhi polls, it would continue with all the populist schemes started by the AAP government.

PM Modi takes lead

While the AAP has continued with its schemes of providing free power, water, and medicines for the people in Delhi, the BJP has promised to not just bring qualitative improvement in them but also make additions to the populist schemes.

“The prime minister has already said that BJP will continue with all the schemes of the AAP government if it comes to power in Delhi. Moreover, if we are voted to power in Delhi, there will be qualitative improvement in all the populist schemes. The AAP talks about free water and electricity but people have not received these benefits. If we get an opportunity, not just these schemes, we will introduce more populist schemes for women in Delhi,” Kapoor said.

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Political analysts believe that the BJP has been out of power in Delhi for long and it needs leaders who have a following of their own to win these elections. “Looking at the candidate list of the BJP, the party has brought leaders from AAP, Congress and national BJP to add strength to its Delhi unit which lacks prominent faces. All those who have joined Delhi BJP are experienced leaders who have been part of the government or have worked with the BJP at the national level. Also, if the BJP gets leaders from AAP and Congress, then it will succeed in weakening its rivals,” Ashutosh Kumar, political science professor at Panjab University, told The Federal.