Modi vs Kejriwal, nari shakti in slums: How BJP plans to take Delhi again

HIGHLIGHTING PRIME Minister Narendra Modi and his achievements at the Centre, stoking “latent resentment” against the AAP government’s withdrawn excise policy among women in the city’s slums and JJ clusters — with two weeks to go before Delhi votes, and with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal out on interim bail, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has revamped its Lok Sabha campaign in the Capital, according to party insiders.

Modi, party sources said, was likely to address two large gatherings in the city over the coming days — one of which was expected to be aimed at “eclipsing” the INDIA bloc’s rally at Ramlila Maidan on March 31.

“The PM is likely to address one large rally at Shastri Park in Northeast Delhi — which will be at the intersection of the Northeast, Chandni Chowk and East Delhi Lok Sabha seats. Another large gathering is planned to showcase the PM’S popularity through the sheer number of those in attendance compared to the rally put together by around two dozen INDIA leaders last month,” a party leader said.

“Over the coming days, the party and its senior leadership are expected to become more vocal and aggressive on the issue of corruption and target the AAP, specifically, to bring it to the centre of the political discourse instead of other INDIA bloc parties,” another party leader said.

The BJP also plans to deploy regional leaders from across the country at smaller gatherings in specific pockets of the city where voters from states and communities represented by them reside.

In the meantime, the party will also step up its outreach in Delhi’s slums and JJ clusters where it has traditionally been weak in comparison to the Congress and then the AAP, both of which have joined forces for the Lok Sabha polls in the capital.

According to sources, apart from stepping up its door-todoor campaign among beneficiaries of Central welfare schemes in such localities, the BJP will specifically seek to communicate “the misrule and corruption” of the AAP government in addition to targeting Kejriwal himself.

“We have already been communicating with women in such pockets on how the PM’S policies and schemes at the Centre have transformed their lives; over the coming days, we will underline how Kejriwal, currently a common criminal out on bail, was responsible for impacting their lives and households the opposite way,” the leader said, adding that the party would specifically step up its outreach in this respect in the Chandni Chowk, Northeast and West Delhi Lok Sabha seats.

“The AAP can claim popularity in such areas based on its power and water subsidies, but our surveys of such areas posit there is not just resentment but a lot of anger against its government which, through its 1 plus 1 scheme on alcohol, plunged women’s husbands and sons into lifelong addiction,” a senior BJP leader alleged.