Sensing challenge from AAP, BJP goes full throttle in MCD poll campaigning for first time; big guns hit Delhi streets

Sensing a seemingly obvious tough challenge from the Aam Aadmi Party in the upcoming Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections, the BJP on Sunday hit the streets with 14 mega roadshows. These roadshows were done by four chief ministers, party’s national president JP Nadda and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. 

Other than Nadda, top leaders of the BJP, including Rajnath Singh, Hardeep Singh Puri, Jitendra Singh and Meenakshi Lekhi took part in the "Vijay Sankalp" road shows at different places across the city.

Chief Minister of Assam Himanta Biswa Sarma, Haryana CM ML Khattar and Puskhar Singh Dhami of Uttarakhand also attended the road shows.

According to The Indian Express, the national capital will see more leaders of the BJP campaigning for the high-stakes electoral battle in the coming days, including Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath. 

Party leaders, as quoted by The Indian Express, said this was in line with the party’s stand that “no election is less important”. In the meanwhile, they admitted this was the first time the BJP had deployed its top leaders to campaign in a civic election. 

The MCD polls are expected to be a three-way contest between the AAP, the BJP and the Congress. While the BJP, which has been ruling the MCD for 15 years, is facing a tough fight from the AAP, the Congress will be contesting more to keep its existence in Delhi politics. 

“In the meeting attended by Nadda ji and (general secretary for organisation) BL Santhosh, the view was that we should not just leave our galaxy of leaders — who in their individual capacity have different constituencies — unutilised. The question was why should we leave this election as a one-man show by Arvind Kejriwal for the AAP and that the BJP should not follow the strategies of the AAP,” The Indian Express quoted a party leader as saying. 

The stakes are high for both the parties in the battle of the hustings for the largest municipal body which has an annual budget of over Rs 15,000 crore for 250 wards. 

Political experts believe that these polls will set the political narrative in the national capital for the next assembly and parliamentary elections. 

AAP has made it clear that it is going contest the MCD polls with the agenda of clearing the three garbage mountains in the national capital. On Friday, Kejriwal announced 10 guarantees for the public, which the party called 'Kejriwal Ki 10 Guarantees'.

The BJP is countering AAP with two important issues -- pollution and corruption. However, the saffron party is also facing massive anti-incumbency after being in power for 15 years. It also lacks a face like Arvind Kejriwal to counter the AAP.

For the BJP, strong organisational support coupled with the face of Prime Minister Narendra Modi may give the party the necessary edge over its rival Aam Aadmi Party. 

The anti-incumbency factor looms large this time against the BJP. But anti-incumbency is not the only factor that goes against the saffron party. Despite being in power for so many years in the municipal bodies in Delhi, the party hardly has a local impactful face to lead with. It is still dependent upon the Central leadership and the Prime Minister in this regard.

Meanwhile, the Congress is trying to woo the voters on the work done during the tenure of late Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.

The AAP entered the MCD election fray for the first time in 2017 and managed to win 49 wards. Despite losing the election to the BJP, the party managed to replace the Congress as the main opposition. The Congress had registered victory on only 31 wards in the 2017 civic polls.