Unease in Delhi BJP over ‘bonhomie’ between Manoj Tiwari and Kapil Mishra

The rumours of the ties between Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari and AAP MLA Kapil Mishra started floating after they visited night shelters together

Resentment has been brewing inside Delhi BJP over the alleged closeness between city unit president, Manoj Tiwari, and sacked AAP minister Kapil Mishra.

Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari. (Arvind Yadav/HT Photo)

The rumours of the ties between the two politicians surfaced after Mishra, an MLA from Karawal Nagar, was reportedly frequently spotted with the BJP leader during Tiwari’s visit to the night shelters for the homeless, along with Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader and Rajouri Garden MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa.

An officer bearer says that Mishra’s regular appearance with party chief has been causing uneasiness among a section of party leaders, who believe this would provide fodder to the opposition.

“This is unnecessarily creating confusion. The sacked AAP leader is regularly sharing platform with Tiwari. We don’t know whether this is party’s strategy against AAP or Mishra is joining the BJP?” said a Delhi BJP leader.

On the intervening night of December 22 and 23, the trio carried out a ‘reality check’ of shelters for the homeless near ISBT Kashmere Gate. On December 31, they again visited a night shelter to celebrate New Year with the homeless.

“Tiwari, as head of state unit, has full right to take decisions but Mishra’s presence is bound to raise eyebrows because no other BJP leader was invited to join him,” said another office bearer.

“Mishra had made derogatory remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The issue is likely to be raised during two days’ executive meeting of the state unit, which is scheduled to be held on January 6-7,” he added.

Taking a dig at Mishra meetings with the Delhi BJP chief, AAP spokesperson and MLA from Greater Kailash Saurabh Bhardwaj on Tuesday tweeted, “Indian Against Corruption 2.0 was launched few months back by an Anti-Corruption crusader. Lakhs were calling his Helpline for support. Here it finally lands.”

On the other hand, Mishra said he had joined hands with Tiwari to expose AAP’s government failure. “I have cordial relationship with Tiwari. Moreover, my constituency is part of his parliamentary seat so we went to take stock of night shelters together,” he told HT

However, Tiwari said this should not be seen as a ‘political move’ and Mishra inspecting shelters for homeless with him was just a ‘coincidence’. “He is being seen with me is a coincidence,” he said.