Tough for BJP in Delhi, saffron brigade jittery: RSS
Sangh mouthpiece says resentment in state BJP over Bedi as CM nominee
New Delhi: With only three days to go for the Delhi polls, a shock wave ran through the saffron camp as its margdarshak, the RSS clearly indicated that the BJP was “not in a comfortable position” and a 'rejuvenated' AAP had “reclaimed its lost ground”.
Virtually dismissing the BJP Delhi leadership, the RSS revealed in its mouthpiece, Organiser, that Ms Kiran Bedi was projected as the BJP’s CM candidate only after the saffron high command “received adverse feedback from the field against the Delhi BJP”. If the BJP was trying to cover up the rift in the party over Ms Bedi’s projection, the RSS brought it out in the open.
The Organiser article stated there was “resentment among a section within the state unit after Bedi was named as CM nominee”. In the article Delhi Assembly Polls: Rejigging Strategies, the RSS mouthpiece refused to give the BJP an edge. Instead it wrote, “The fight between the Bharatiya Janata Party and its toughest competitor, Aam Aadmi Party, has heated up, taking it to the level of a cut-throat contest.”
Arguing that AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal had lost shine following his 49-day stint as Delhi chief minister, and that it had lost middle-class support, the RSS made it clear that the Delhi polls would not be “a cakewalk for the AAP.”
The RSS claimed that despite the fact that the AAP had lost the middle-class support, the BJP too “is not on comfortable ground at present”.
It may be mentioned that it is the RSS swayamsevaks who do the main groundwork for the BJP during elections. More than BJP workers, it is the RSS cadres, who have their ears to the ground.
RSS mouthpiece Organiser claimed that “The AAP, through its constant field work and anti-establishment rhetoric, has managed to reclaim a large portion of its lost ground”.
It pointed out that though some prominent AAP members had quit the party after the Lok Sabha polls, it has now been able to “rejuvenate its cadre, which has made its presence strong up to the booth level”.
The RSS mouthpiece felt the “The AAP is expected to gain from pockets like slum-dwellers, resettlement colonies, a section of the lower-middle class and minorities (especially Muslims), and a considerable chunk of urban youth, especially those either involved with NGOs or who harbour Left or ultra-Left ideology”.
The article also exposed the failure of the Delhi BJP leadership to give the party a winning chance against the AAP. The RSS mouthpiece pointed out that lack of leadership and adverse ground reports virtually forced the BJP high command to opt for Kiran Bedi as its face.
“The top BJP leadership, after receiving adverse feedback from the field against the Delhi BJP, inducted Kiran Bedi and projected her as the BJP’s chief ministerial nominee,” the article stated.