BJP top leaders including Home Minister Amit Shah and party chief J P Nadda to review party's defeat in Delhi polls on Wednesday, Feb 12, meeting.
JP Nadda said - "accepting this mandate, BJP will play the role of constructive opposition".
Party leaders are already listing out several factors for the humiliting defeat despite aggressive campaigning.
Focus shift to Bihar - Polls likely in October-November, 2020
Prashant Kishor may emerge a key player in Bihar. Bihar state leaders of AAP has said that the state would be the next destination of the party and Nitish Kumar-led JD(U)-BJP-LJP alliance will get a good fight.
In 2015, BJP contesting alone had lost miserably and JD(U)-RJD-Congress had won the elections !!
The partys state unit has said it would contest a large number of seats in the assembly elections later this year and seek to "defeat polarization by focusing on issues like health and education".
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday side-stepped queries on the outcome of assembly polls in Delhi, where the coalition comprising his JD(U),BJP and LJP has been drubbed by the incumbent Aam Aadmi Party, with the terse observation the will of the people is supreme.
"Janata maalik hai", uttered Kumar with hands folded above his head and the ghost of a smile playing on his lips as he sauntered past a posse of journalists tossing queries on the sidelines of a function where he unveiled a statue of Sangh ideologue Deen Dayal Upadhyay.
The JD(U), of which Kumar is the national president, had contested two assembly segments in Delhi Burari and Sangam VIhar and lost both to AAP by staggering margins.
Although the JD(U) has never been a major player in the national capital, the current elections were significant because it was the first time that the BJP a formidable force in the city chose to take its smaller allies in Bihar along to take on the huge challenge posed by Arvind Kejriwals party, which is less than a decade old.
The tie-up in Delhi had been frowned upon by JD(U) national general secretary Pavan Varma a socialite based in the national capital, who aired his differences in the open and faced the axe.
Similar was the fate of Prashant Kishor whom the Chief Minister had made his partys national vice-president and whose position in the JD(U) had become increasingly untenable on account of his collaboration with Kejriwal in capacity of an election strategist.
An indignant Kishor has threatened to visit Patna after the dust settles on Delhi and unveil his future strategy besides "exposing" Kumar.
Kishor rendered his service to Kejriwal's party in drawing strategy for the Delhi election.
Bihar unit of AAP has indicated that the state would be the next destination of the party.
The partys state unit has said it would contest a large number of seats in the assembly elections later this year and seek to "defeat polarization by focusing on issues like health and education".
The torpid opposition in Bihar, led by Lalu Prasads RJD with the Congress as a major ally, after its dismal performance in Lok Sabha polls is hoping for a burst of vigour
among supporters on account of the results in Delhi, which came barely a couple of months after the BJPs ouster in the adjoining Jharkhand.
Tejashwi Yadav, the RJDs Chief Ministerial candidate hailed Kejriwal for defeating NDAs "hate campaign" and took a swipe at Kumar, saying "yes, Janata is maalik. But he will have to face the maalik here when the assembly polls are held".
Yadavs exultation over the "one-sided" poll result, though, was ironic as the massive AAP wave smashed the NDA, besides pulverizing the Congress-RJD combine, which sank without a trace.
However, interestingly, the development is likely to be received with a sense of relief by the JD(U) as well since the party will now be even more hopeful that Nitish Kumars detractors in the BJP will be kept on a tight leash.
After the Lok Sabha polls last year when the BJP returned to power with a brute majority, several BJP leaders in the state had begun to make statements that the time had come for the saffron party to stake claim for the Chief Ministers post,thereby threatening to upend the alliance with the JD(U).
A lid was, however, put on the controversy with repeated assertions by Amit Shah, then the BJP chief and still the de facto party strategist, that Kumar will lead the NDA charge in the assembly polls.
Nonetheless, JD(U) sources say, a better than expected show in Delhi could have emboldened Nitish-baiters in the BJP and not augured well for the ties between the two parties re- stitched with tenuous threads in the wake of recent acrimony that lasted for a four-year period during which Kumar remained outside the NDA and vowed to make a Sangh-Mukt Bharat.
The carefully worded statement issued by the BJPs Bihar unit spokesman Nikhil Anand, who offered his take the Delhi polls outcome, was a straw in the wind.
"The election result of Delhi has reflected the local sentiment of the voters and it has nothing to do with Bihar politics.
"BJP as well as our NDA allies, JDU and LJP are busy strengthening the organisational structure at the root level in Bihar. NDA will sweep the 2020 assembly election in Bihar under the leadership of CM Nitish Kumar", he said.
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The BJP was trounced in the Delhi assembly polls against the expectations of its top leaders, as the saffron party trailed far behind the AAP that returned to power with 62 seats in the 70-member legislature.
Although the BJP managed to improve its vote share to over 39 percent as compared to 32.19 percent in the 2015 elections, the increase did not materialise in sufficient number of seats to bring the party back to power after a gap of over two decades.
The party managed to win 8 seats, registering a slight increase from the three it had bagged in 2015.
Some BJP leaders believe the defeat was mainly contributed by the "hyper-nationalist pitch" of the poll campaign that focused on the anti-CAA protests at Shaheen Bagh and also lack of any answer to Kejriwal government's freebies including power and water supply and free rides to women in public transport buses.
"The party had planned to promise a bouquet of free services to people including water and power as well as benefit of the Ayushman Bharat health scheme, but the idea was shelved and it could not become a part of the election manifesto," said a senior Delhi BJP leader.
In the over three-week long high voltage campaign for the polls, the BJP leadership including Union Home Minister Amit Shah and party chief JP Nadda as well as Prime Minister Narendra Modi assailed AAP and chief minister Arvind Kejriwal over a host of issues including the Shaheen Bagh protest against the amended citizenship law and their alleged failure to come up with schools, hospitals and other facilities promised by them.
Shah would end his election speeches by appealing to people to press the electronic voting machine (EVM) buttons with such anger that its "current" was felt at Shaheen Bagh.
Objectionable statements also came from BJP leaders like MP Parvesh Verma and Union minister Anurag Thakur resulting in the Election Commission imposing temporary bans on campaigning by them.
The opposition AAP and Congress accused the BJP of running a campaign of "division and hatred" in the elections.
A section of Delhi BJP leaders held that the party went "overboard" while focusing on its agenda of "Hindutva and nationalism" in the campaign.
"With party leaders seen prompting slogans like 'shoot the traitor' and giving speeches and terming a chief minister as terrorist in election campaign, you cannot expect to have a positive response from the masses," said a top BJP leader.
Some BJP leaders also cited lack of a chief ministerial face, organisational shortcomings, failure to reach out to voters in unauthorised colonies and JJ clusters, and differences of leaders in Delhi party unit as possible reasons for the party's "humiliating" defeat.
However, Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari rejected the charge of opposition parties that his party fought the polls on a "divisive" agenda.
"We do not practice politics of hatred, our principle is 'sabka saath sabka vikas'. In elections much is talked about as per emerging developments. But, we would never want that some people block a road for protest and cause problems to others. We opposed it (Shaheen Bagh road block) in the past and still do," Tiwari said.
Tiwari, however, said the causes of BJP's debacle will be "reviewed" on the party forum.
He also rejected the claim that AAP's freebies like power and water supply were not countered well by the BJP in its campaign.
"We do what we promise. We could not have possibly promised something that we had to do by cutting corners," he stated.
BJP national spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain alleged that the party's poor show was due to Congress "shifting" its votes to the AAP in the elections.
"BJP is the only party which has gained and our seat tally increased while even the number of AAP seats has gone down. Congress shifted its vote to the AAP yet we gave a good fight," Hussain told reporters at the Delhi BJP office.
The results have come as a rude shock to the BJP that had fought the Delhi polls under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi.
Shah, who had spearheaded the party's poll campaign, had predicted that BJP would win more than 45 seats. Tiwari had tweeted that BJP will form the government in Delhi by winning 48 seats and had even dared people to save his tweet.
The BJP has been out of power in Delhi for over two decades.
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NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Tuesday attributed the Aam Aadmi Party's stellar performance in the Delhi assembly elections to the common people rejecting the BJP's "communal polarisation" agenda which he said marked the "mood of change" in the country.
Pawar also underlined the need for regional parties to come together to keep the BJP out of power.
As per the latest update, the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP has won 46 of the total 70 assembly seats and leading on 16 as per the latest results and trends. The BJP has won five seats and is leading on three others, while the Congress stares at a blank.
Pawar said the BJP committed "blunders" during the campaigning for the Delhi polls like "inciting religious sentiments to divide people along communal lines", but failed.
Without naming Union minister Anurag Thakur, the NCP chief said some people in the government made statements such as 'goli maro', which were indicative of the BJP "crossing the limits, but people of Delhi rejected them".
Talking to reporters here, Pawar said the results of the Delhi elections indicated that "winds of change" were blowing in the country. "The series of BJP's defeat in elections will not stop now," he added.
"The BJP, as usual, played the communal card to polarise votes, but failed. The Delhi Assembly poll contest was only between the Aam Aadmi Party and BJP, hence one might claim the saffron party's vote share is soaring," Pawar said.
He said the Delhi poll results indicated that the "winds of change" are blowing in the country. "The results are not surprising to me," he said.
Today's result is not limited to Delhi alone as people from various states live in the national capital. There is an environment of change in their own states which they expressed while voting in Delhi, the former Union minister said.
"There is an area called Karol Bagh in Delhi, where many Marathi-speaking people live. I had once gone there for a function. I had asked people about the poll trend and they had said only Kejriwal (will win)," he said.
"People had said that the the Kejriwal government tried to solve basic issues such as electricity and water bills, healthcare, education in Delhi," he said.
Referring to the BJP's defeat in the assembly polls held in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh during 2018-19, Pawar said, "I don't think this series of BJP's defeat will stop now".
"There is some kind of disappointment among the people which was reflected in the outcome of Delhi polls," he said.
Underlining the need for regional parties to come together to keep the BJP out of power, Pawar cited the example of Maharashtra, where the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress formed an alliance to come to power.
"Regional parties need to come together under a 'common minimum programme' and provide a stable government to keep the BJP out of power.
"In Kerala, there is Communist party...in Maharashtra, we did some experiment. It means going forward, there is a need to come together on the basic common minimum programme, and I am sure people will support it," the veteran politician said.
Pawar said there is a feeling among Opposition parties that the BJP is like a "calamity" for the country, and there was a need to stand united.
"Last time we had come together in Kolkata and put forth our stand. Today, people have expectations from us and there is a need to go with a common minimum programme," he said.
Pawar also congratulated Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on victory in the polls.
Without taking names, Pawar said some "egotistic people are in power at the Centre".
"What I hear about (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi and (Union Home Minister Amit) Shah from MPs suggest that there is a great anxiety among people in the government," he said.
Pawar said BJP MPs look "scared" these days.
"They ensure that they do not get heard when they talk about their party. A BJP MP first looks to his right, then to his left, and after ensuring that nobody listening, he reveals the truth," Pawar said.
Referring to the vitriolic poll campaign, Pawar said, "The BJP committed some blunders in the Delhi elections by trying to incite religious sentiments of people and create a chasm between communities".
"The way they treated people from minority communities and ensured to create a rift on the lines of religion..but the people of Delhi did not accept it and rejected them," he added.
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It will still take time for AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal to emerge as a "national leader" despite his party coming to power in Delhi for the third consecutive term, experts opined on Tuesday.
The experts said Kejriwal would need to have a pan-India base to establish himself as a national leader.
The AAP is at present recognised by the Election Commission as a state party. It emerged as the principal opposition in Punjab in 2017. However, its national ambitions suffered a setback when its campaigns in Goa and in the last two Lok Sabha elections were unsuccessful. It won four Lok Sabha seats in Punjab in 2014 and just one in 2019, while Delhi voters rejected it both times.
Kejriwal also burnt his fingers in 2014 when he contested against Narendra Modi, who was the BJP's prime ministerial candidate, in the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat, losing by over three lakh votes.
Many saw a shift in the AAP's strategy after the party's drubbing in the 2017 civic polls in Delhi at the hands of the BJP, as it again focussed on its development pitch in the national capital.
"It is still early to say that because it was a local election and of course, there is a positive platform on which he contested but whether he can replicate it at an all-India level is difficult to say. His party doesn't have any substantial base or party infrastructure. It is premature," said Sanjay Pandey, a political analyst and JNU professor.
The AAP is headed for a landslide victory on Tuesday in the high-stakes Delhi Assembly polls, leaving main rival BJP way behind and decimating the Congress in a bitterly-fought contest.
Kamal Chenoy, JNU professor, said the Indian polity is "very complex" where people have different ideas.
"For Arvind to be an all-India leader would take time. But what he has done has shown that there is some different kind of argument by using whatever the people need and giving them empowerment so that is important. He will grow but becoming national is going to take time," he said.
Chenoy said these elections gave the AAP a kind of empowerment which will help it get support of other opposition parties that have been trying to put up a united front against the BJP.
"The BJP is upset because now Arvind has got his foot in the door and the AAP is going to move on from here," he added.
Jagdeep Chhokar, one of the founding members of the Association for Democratic Reforms, said the AAP has to do a lot more before they go national.
"Going national is a very different level of activity. Last time, in national elections they contested around 400 seats, they had no clue who they had nominated as their candidates," Chhokar said.
What is common between Tilak Nagar, Janakpuri, Madipur, Rajouri Garden, Hari Nagar, Vikaspuri, Uttam Nagar, Dwarka, Matiala and Najafgarh -
all fall under West Delhi and here BJP scored a zero, but why and how ???
you name it, all have been taken control by AAP candidates with decisive margin. His protege Tajinder Bagga who was fighting from Hari Nagar and Verma made numerous rounds to bolster his campaign also lost from the seat. So much so, Verma unveiled a constituency specific manifesto for Bagga. Nothing seems to have cut the ice.
Same goes with Rajiv Babbar, who fought from Tilak Nagar, a constituency Bagga hoped he would get a ticket from. Babbar is not a newbie. In run of to 2019 general election, the BJP had appointed Rajiv Babbar, as in-charge of East Delhi parliamentary constituency. Babbar held "training" for BJP workers back then but in 2020, failed to perform himself.
Ashish Sood from Janakpuri is another old horse. AAP's Rajesh Rishi outperformed BJP's Ashish Sood by a magnificent margin that went above 50,000 votes.
The spectacular debacle is surprising given BJP's main electoral agenda till they raised 'Shaheen bagh' -- regularisation of unauthorised colonies find resonance in this Lok Sabha constituency. A large chunk of those 1,700 unauthorised colonies fall under Verma's area. Yet, this debacle raises question on his ability as well as his aggressive campaign pitch probably backfiring.
Verma, an otherwise non controversial MP and son of BJP's former Delhi Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma came to the limelight when he attacked the blockade at Shaheen Bagh and even suggesting that the protesters are "rapists and murderers". Even on the day of election, half way through, he tweeted a provocative video that started with Shaheen Bagh bashing and ended with "Jai Shri Ram", a religious chant, intended to polarise the voting.
But February 11 proved, people from his own constituency didn't buy his argument, leave aside people of Delhi listening to him. At least two Delhi BJP leaders told IANS on condition of anonymity that "few of our leaders went a bit too far on Shaheen Bagh", without naming Verma.
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The BJP failed to make much impact in constituencies where its leaders made controversial remarks while targeting their opponents during campaigning for the Delhi assembly polls.
Only three seats, which were among 12 constituencies where Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath addressed rallies, were bagged by the BJP. The party won 8 seats as against 62 by the AAP.
During his hectic campaign schedule which stretched over four days, he addressed rallies for BJP candidates in Patparganj, Kirari, Mehrauli, Uttam Nagar, Dwarka, Tughlakabad, Vikaspuri, Rohini, Karawal Nagar, Jahangirpuri and Badarpur.
The firebrand BJP leader kept the protesters at Shaheen Bagh in crosshair at each rally and alleged that the AAP government had been supplying them "biryani", for which the Election Commission issued him a notice.
Barring Badarpur, Karawal Nagar and Rohini, where BJP's Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, Mohan Singh Bisht and Vijender Gupta emerged victorious, the party candidates were humbled by opponents from the AAP.
In Janakpuri, where BJP MP from West Delhi Parvesh Verma made a controversial remark during a rally, the BJP candidate, Ashish Sood, lost to AAP's Rajesh Rishi by 14,917 votes.
"What happened in Kashmir with Kashmiri Pandits could happen in Delhi also. Lakhs of people gather at Shaheen Bagh, they could enter houses rape and kill your sisters and daughters. The people need to decide now," Verma had said.
The Election Commission had barred Verma from campaigning for four days over the remarks.
Shaheen Bagh, a key anti-CAA protest site in south Delhi, had taken a centre stage in the BJP's poll campaign.
Verma's uncle and the party's candidate from Mundka, Azad Singh, lost to AAP's Dharampal Lakra by 19,158 votes.
In Rithala, where Union minister Anurag Thakur made the infamous "desh ke gaddaron ko" remark, AAP's Mohinder Goyal trounced BJP's Manish Chaudhary by 13,817 votes.
The BJP candidate from Model Town, Kapil Mishra, who was barred from campaigning for 48 hours for his controversial tweet likening the elections to an "India versus Pakistan match", lost to AAP's Akhilesh Pati Tripathi.
