New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) lost to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in a keenly-contested assembly elections in Delhi. A host of factors contributed to AAP’s loss — alleged corruption and scams being the key ones. Top AAP leaders were mired in graft controversies and scandals, which eventually did the party in.
The two biggest rows that tarnished the party’s image were Kejriwal’s ‘Sheesh Mahal’ and the shady liquor policy. These went a long way in scripting the debacle for the party. The hit reflected in the results. In contrast to the AAP’s strong showing in the 2020 Delhi election, where they secured 62 seats, this year’s result of just 22 seats marked a significant downfall.
After the poll outcome, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the BJP supporters at party headquarters, where he said people of the capital feel a relief of freeing Delhi from ‘AAP-da’.
‘Sheesh Mahal’: ‘Mismatch in words and actions’
Arvind Kejriwal’s grand and lavish residence, often called as the ‘Sheesh Mahal,’ was the focus of BJP’s election campaign against the Aam Aadmi Party in the lead-up to the Delhi election. The BJP alleged that the former Delhi chief minister built a palace for himself while the poor and needy were left to live in slums.
As Kejriwal allegedly promoted his own goals, it apparently didn’t go well with the voters, who saw a mismatch in his actions and words — preaching something and practising something else. AAP and Kejriwal tried to rubbish the claims of self-aggrandizement made by the BJP, but it apparently went in vain.
Recently, a CAG investigation found that the preliminary estimate for the renovation of the CM’s residential building was Rs 7.91 crore, which shot up to Rs 8.62 crore when the work was awarded in 2020. However, by the time the Public Works Department finished the project in 2022, the cost had zoomed to Rs 33.66 crore. The BJP made it a central point of its attack against AAP.
In his speech on Saturday evening, Modi also took a swipe at the AAP for its alleged “mentality”, accusing the party of halting the expansion of the Metro, preventing those living in shanties from obtaining permanent homes, and denying eligible Delhi residents access to medical insurance under the Ayushman Bharat scheme. The prime minister also pointed out that even as the world was struggling to deal with Covid-19, the AAP was building ‘Sheesh Mahal’.
Liquor policy: ‘Irregularities’ that tarnished party’s image
Kejriwal’s reputation took a huge hit due to the liquor policy. Things came to a pass when the Enforcement Directorate named his party leaders, and subsequently him, in a case related to alleged financial irregularities in the excise policy rolled out by the AAP government. Later, Delhi lieutenant governor VK Saxena ordered a probe into the case.
Last month, BJP president J P Nadda claimed that the CAG report on the Delhi government’s excise policy has exposed lapses, leading to a loss of Rs 2,026 crore loss to the exchequer.
Veteran social activist Anna Hazare, who had a long association with Kejriwal before he entered politics, pointed out that AAP’s electoral losses were a result of the tarnished image of its leadership and the controversies surrounding sharab (liquor) and paisa (money).
New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) Vice Chairman Kuljeet Singh Chahal underlined that the victory of the BJP in the capital is a wound on Arvind Kejriwal’s “corruption, Sheesh mahal, liquor scam…”
The BJP is all set to form government in Delhi after 27 long years, after it won 48 of the 70 seats in the assembly elections.
