How AAP thinks BJP contributed to its comeback

It was a month back, on January 10, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi had kicked off the Bhartiya Janata Party’s (BJP) election campaign for the Delhi Assembly Polls from the Ramlila ground in Delhi. Surprisingly, it turned out to be a booster for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

It was here for the first time, Modi made a scathing attack on his arch rival-- Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal – dismissing him as an “anarchist” who should join “Naxals.”

Following this, Kejriwal reminded the citizens of Delhi of Modi’s barbs in each of his public addresses and said this language doesn’t suit the PM. “The Prime Minister launched an attack on me in a rally, saying I am a Naxal. Am I a Naxal? Do I need to go to forest? This kind of language doesn’t suit him,” Kejriwal responded on February 11 at a fund raising event in Wazirpur constituency.

AAP leaders feel Modi's rally was the first sign of nervousness for the BJP which had no chief ministerial face for the Delhi elections then.

“The PM dedicated a good part of his speech to slam AAP and Kejriwal. He seemed to be nervous. Maybe he is worried about our growing popularity,” AAP senior leader Yogendra Yadav had said.

Although Yadav is of the view that a positive campaign smeared by AAP along with “solid organizational” build up boosted AAP’s prospects in the Delhi elections, but “BJP did the rest” for the party.

Within a week of Modi’s rally, the BJP inducted Kiran Bedi into the party who later on became its chief ministerial candidate.

This was seen as a masterstroke by some political commentators who felt Bedi came with a clean image and also belonged to the same backyard as Kejriwal – the Civil Rights movement spearheaded byAnna Hazare. However, the AAP leadership was confident this wouldn’t dent its prospects in Delhi as it was too late for the BJP.

“Of course, she is the strongest face put up by BJP so far but it’s too late for such a move. The AAP has gained a lot of traction in Delhi now," AAP spokesperson Atishi Marlena said. The AAP further felt her induction would lead to infighting within the BJP which would make matters worse.

For the AAP, Bedi was merely Modi’s 'insurance policy.'

Bedi, a former no-nonsense cop, struggled to find her feet into the political arena which was evident in her public pronouncements, the AAP felt. “She made things worse for herself by her public pronouncements and by the display of the difficulties she was facing while making a transition into political life,” Yadav said.

Soon, to counter AAP, the BJP gave a mega push to its campaign by fielding 100 MPs and almost all the central government ministers in 70 constituencies of Delhi. This gave AAP altogether another reason to slam the BJP. “Dirty tricks, masterstrokes, 120 MPs, entire cabinet, big money, Modi rallies- nothing working. The people of Delhi have made up their minds,” AAP leader Mayank Gandhi had said on Twitter last week.

While Kejriwal continued to highlight the issues of water, electricity, price rise and women safety in his jan sabhas, he also reminded the public of the jibes by BJP’s top leadership at him which often called him a “monkey”, “toxic”, “thief”.

The AAP also thought as the elections neared in Delhi, BJP cadre looked pale on the Delhi streets. "Earlier at least we used to see BJP volunteers campaigning hard but it lost steam as the elections neared as if they have already lost," said Umesh Singh, an AAP volunteer, who came from Varanasi to campaign for the party.

Yadav told a private news channel on Sunday he wanted to “send bouquets to the BJP, whose local leadership” did the work for them.