BJP’s poll strategy — to put AAP on defensive

Tribune News Service

Vibha Sharma

New Delhi, November 28

In the high stake Municipal Corporation of Delhi elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has evolved a different strategy to counter the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on its home turf. Observers believe that the saffron party has “evolved a new strategy for Delhi MCD” to put AAP on the defensive.

“AAP has this technique of setting the agenda. However, in these elections, it is the BJP which holds a press conference first thing in the morning on most days and pushes a narrative, which becomes talk of the town for the rest of the day,” an observer said.

New topic everyday

The BJP knows it is on a weak wicket over issues raised in the past five years and AAP is its biggest threat. Therefore, every day, it comes up with a new issue which AAP spends the rest of the day defending. —Observer

Videos of AAP’s jailed Minister Satyendra Jain were pushed systematically in the public domain ahead of the fierce contest. Last week, the BJP released a sting video shot purportedly by a former AAP volunteer to allege that the Arvind Kejriwal-led party was “selling tickets”. Meanwhile, jailed conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar also became a prolific letter writer, much to the benefit of the BJP.

Although the CBI and the ED didn’t name Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in the chargesheet filed in the Delhi’s liquor scam, the BJP have been raising the corruption issue.

Today, while challenging Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to list “two of his developmental works achieved without indulging in corruption”, BJP’s state president Adesh Gupta claimed that Sisodia, “who opened liquor shops in every street, had to run away from a meeting on Sunday due to heavy protests.”

These are just a few political developments in the days leading to the poll in Delhi on December 4, in which AAP managed to take the first lead by starting a campaign over “garbage mismanagement”. However, since then, it has mostly been fire-fighting, countering the various salvos launched by the BJP.

“Obviously the BJP knows it is on a weak wicket over issues in the past five years and AAP is its biggest threat. Therefore, every day, the BJP serves a new hot issue which the AAP spends the rest of the day defending and countering. Putting AAP on the defensive, the BJP is ensuring Kejriwal, who started with an aggressive pitch on garbage dumps and other civic issues, doesn’t get much space,” an observer said.

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