Blame game in BJP camp after defeat

The defeat of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Delhi assembly elections seems to have given its municipal councillors an opportunity to subject the senior leadership to a tongue-lashing for ignoring them during ticket distribution, reports Neelam Pandey.

The defeat of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Delhi assembly elections seems to have given its municipal councillors an opportunity to subject the senior leadership to a tongue-lashing for ignoring them during ticket distribution.

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As soon as news of the party's defeat started coming in, party councillors began citing reasons for the loss and claimed that the result was a reflection of the party's "overconfidence".

"From the beginning we have been telling senior party leaders that the ticket distribution was not fair. We held several meetings but in vain. The distribution didn't take into account a candidate's potential to win. We have lost on all four tickets given to the Akali Dal. Councillors were sidelined during the whole process and the result is for everyone to see," said a BJP councillor requesting anonymity.

Many councillors also claimed that the party had failed to raise relevant issues and, rather than concentrating on local concerns, had taken up national points which Delhiites were unable to relate to.

"The Congress was able to tap the vote-bank of younger people by taking up issues pertaining to development, such as the metro and flyovers, which they could relate to. We on the other hand were raising issues such as terrorism and price rise," said Mayor Arti Mehra who refused to comment on the fact that the party ignored councillors.

Many councillors also claimed that the party should not have disclosed the name of the chief ministerial candidate before the elections. They claimed this move also went against the party.

"The party distribution was such that younger voters were unable to connect with the candidates. This too went in favour of the Congress as we didn't have many young faces contesting elections," added another councillor.

The Congress had given out party tickets to seven municipal councillors out of which two have registered a win. The BJP on the other hand had not given out a single ticket to councillors.