BJP legislators back on campaign trail

As Delhi stares at a re-election, some newly elected MLAs of the BJP have already begun campaigning in their areas.

As Delhi stares at a re-election, some newly elected MLAs of the BJP have already begun campaigning in their areas.

While the party had targeted the Congress in the run-up to the recently concluded Assembly elections, the BJP’s focus now has shifted to the Aam Aadmi Party, which surprised many with its meteoric rise.

“So far, the candidates as well as the state unit itself had not acknowledged AAP’s presence. The main focus was countering the Congress and its policies. After AAP bagged 28 seats, they have become the main Opposition party for us and we have been told to go out and expose them. We have started our campaigning to ensure we get enough time to get our message across. At the same time, we have to tell the public that the promises AAP has made are not practical,” said a senior BJP leader.

If elections are held again, the BJP intends to repeat all the elected MLAs, and those who lost by narrow margins. However, the party has decided to take a strict stance against all those sitting MLAs who performed poorly.

“AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal has been calling BJP chor (thief) and we had been ignoring the charge. We need to be clear what exactly our stand is as far as AAP is concerned. Most leaders feel that we need to be more aggressive as people have started viewing us as soft in our approach and hence, unable to take any action. All the workers have been asked to go out and unmask true faces of AAP workers,” said another BJP leader.

The bad performance of the sitting MLAs is also a cause for worry and the party is analysing each and every seat.