BJP gearing up to win Delhi after 22 years

New Delhi, May 27: After winning all the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi, the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Delhi unit is gearing up to form government in the Union Territory after 22 years.

The Congress had snatched power from the BJP in 1998. The BJP government's term from December 02, 1993 to December 03, 1998 had seen three chief ministers: Madan Lal Khurana, Sahib Singh Verma and Sushma Swaraj.

The 15-year-rule of the Congress had ended in December 2013 when the newly formed Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had dethroned Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit's government. After a brief period of President Rule, the AAP returned to power on February 14, 2015, with a mammoth tally of 67 seats out of 70.

BJP President Amit Shah has directed Delhi BJP President Manoj Tiwari, who is also MP from Delhi North- East Lok Sabha seat, and other newly elected MPs to speed up the preparations for the Delhi Assembly elections due early next year, say sources.

It's notable that the BJP had been preparing for the Assembly elections soon after the drubbing in 2015 elections.

On Saturday, Tiwari, Union Minister and Chandni Chowk MP Dr Harsh Vardhan, North West Delhi MP Hans Raj Hans, West Delhi MP Pravesh Verma and East Delhi MP Gautam Gambhir addressed a joint press conference over the party's victory on seven Delhi Lok Sabha seats.

Addressing the press conference, Tiwari said, "For the Delhi BJP, the election fervour has not ended. We have started our work from this very moment. We will make Delhi the best. In the Lok Sabha election, we have won 65 Vidhan Sabha seats and after six months we will repeat this gesture by winning the Delhi Assembly polls."

On Sunday, he organised a programme at his parliamentary constituency to thank party workers.

The Delhi BJP president exhorted party workers to visit every nook and corner of Delhi in the next six months and not only connect the people with the party's policies but also apprise them about the Central government's people-friendly schemes.

He said that Congress and Arvind Kejriwal are afraid of the public interest policies of the central government.

Tiwari said this is the reason that Kejriwal government has not implemented reservation on economic basis and the Ayushman Bharat scheme in Delhi.

According to the party insiders, the main focus of the Delhi BJP unit is on fixing problems of the party-ruled three municipal corporations, which directly serve the people.

Just before the announcement of the Lok Sabha results, Tiwari had met BJP councillors to streamline the functioning of the municipal corporations.

The BJP is ruling the corporations for last 12 years but the local bodies are often criticised for their shoddy work, especially in sanitation.

According to the sources, the BJP would be going into Assembly elections in the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The party workers have been told to apprise the Delhiites about the benefits of the BJP rule at Centre, Delhi and Delhi Municipal Corporations, says a source.

The BJP feels that the current political situation is conducive for it to return back to the power.

"The current political situation is different from that of 2015 when the popularity graph of the AAP was at acme. Now, the AAP is a spent force and the Congress is marred with the factionalism. Therefore, the chances of BJP returning back to power are very high," says a BJP insider.

Apart from BJP MPs, MLAs, Councillors; BJP Delhi office-bearers, district and mandal presidents, Panna Pramukhs and all the BJP workers have been told to directly connect with the voters.