Interview: Kiran Bedi was a blunder

New Delhi, Feb 10: All through the campaign for Delhi, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) appeared either intensively negative or intensively defensive.

Clearly a lot went wrong for the BJP during this campaign and after all Kiran Bedi was not a masterstroke, but became one of the primary reasons for the defeat. [Delhi Election 2015: Complete Coverage]

The Aam Admi Party won by a huge margin and it is to be seen how they handle governance. However, during the AAP campaign there was something that the party and its leader Arvind Kejriwal did very right.

Oneindia speaks with the experts to find out more about the Delhi verdict.

Why the BJP suffered such a huge defeat?

Dr Sandeep Shastri, a leading psephologist points out that the BJP was either too negative or too defensive in its campaign. The plot slipped out of their hand in the campaign stage itself.

"The BJP's defeat is a result of a patent rejection of its intensely negative and patently defensive campaign. It has itself to blame for this defeat."

BJP leader G V L Narasimha Rao says that this is not a vote against the BJP. It is a vote for AAP and we congratulate them.

Was Kiran Bedi a big blunder?

Dr Shastri says, "yes her choice as the Chief Ministerial candidate was part of the defensive and responsive campaign by the BJP. She in fact contributed to the division within the party."

Kiran Bedi failed to deflect attention away from Arvind Kejriwal and did not manage in anyway to increase the vote of the BJP. Over all it was a bad decision by the BJP to field her as the CM candidate," Dr Shastri also adds.

What went right for Kejriwal?

He adopted a completely changed strategy during this election. All through his campaign he seemed less offensive and this worked very well for him and his party, Dr Shastri would add.

There was a lot of credibility in his campaign which helped the party a lot in the campaign. More importantly he managed to change the image that he was a quitter.

He came out and apologized to the people for having quitting the government the last time. He began his campaign by admitting his mistake and apologizing.

This helped him a great deal and the people were ready to forgive him. Normally when someone tenders an apology the people tend to forgive them.

This is what happened in the case of Kejriwal too, Dr Shastri further points out.

Is the Delhi verdict a reflection of what to expect in Bihar?

Bihar is a different ball game. The real contest in Bihar would be between the BJP and the powerful state based parties. Here again the Congress would not be in the picture.

The Delhi defeat would now lead to a realignment of non BJP forces. We would see this in the Bihar elections.