‘AAP government’s freebies can mar saffron pitch in election year’

NEW DELHI: Several district-level leaders of BJP on Thursday warned their bosses that sops offered by the AAP government could put a dent on the saffron party’s efforts to win the Delhi elections.

In meetings at the Pandit Pant Marg office, they unanimously told Union ministers Prakash Javadekar, Hardeep Singh Puri and Nityanand Rai that the BJP needs to chalk out a strategy to counter the Arvind Kejriwal government’s schemes such as free power up to 200 units, free DTC bus ride, and 20,000 litre water of per month.

A BJP leader, who was present in the meeting, said district functionaries suggested that the Centre should immediately provide some relief for residents of unauthorised colonies, a major AAP vote bank, to tilt the balance in favour of the party. Some requested Puri not to resume sealing before the elections.

“A section of workers feel that Kejriwal still enjoys popularity. They said freebies may play spoilsport and, therefore, the government should immediately finalise a policy for unauthorised colonies so that registration of properties can begin. Property rights may be a game-changer in the polls,” said the party functionary. “Leaders from rural areas demanded extension of land-pooling policy to villages in green belts.”

Javadekar, party in-charge for the Delhi election, is seeking feedback from local leaders for the poll preparations.

“Javadekar advised us not to talk to the media on unauthorised colonies. He said we will get briefs on the subject regularly. He also directed us to launch a full-blown attack on the Congress over corruption and paste Chidambaram’s posters all over the city,” said another party functionary.

The participants suggested that the BJP should not delay in announcing its candidates. “Some of them advised the leadership to announce free water and power up to 400 units to each household. Their concern was that power consumption of every consumer will fall drastically in winters, which will enable more users to enjoy subsidy relief. That situation will not help BJP in the polls,” the party functionary said.  

 On Thursday, the ministers covered four districts of West Delhi and Chandni Chowk parliamentary constituencies. The meetings will continue on Friday. In second round after September 15, the ministers will reach out to leaders from remaining constituencies.

Complaints against party-ruled civic bodies

Many office-bearers also complained against the BJP-ruled municipal corporations in the city, saying their “poor work” might not help the party in the Assembly polls.