BJP relies on PM Modi as AAP bats with welfare schemes

NEW DELHI:  With just a week left for the bypolls to five seats in the Municipal Corporations in the national capital, the two main contenders  the AAP and BJP  on Sunday put in all efforts to garner public support. The five seats will go to polls on February 28. If the AAP deputed senior Cabinet ministers such as Manish Sisodia, Gopal Rai and Satyendar Jain to hit the ground to canvass votes, the BJP deployed former state president and MP Manoj Tiwari and senior leaders to campaign among the electorate.

Determined to win all the five seats, the AAP ministers visited the wards on the day. The party had won four of these five wards in 2017 polls. For the last few months the party has been regularly attacking the saffron party on a range of issues including corruption and mismanagement of the civic bodies which are under the BJP rule. “This election is not about the Congress but about defeating the BJP,” said Gopal Rai who addressed a booth meeting in Chauhan Bangar ward of Seelampur constituency.  

Meanwhile, Deputy CM Sisodia campaigned in Kondli and Trilokpuri wards even as Health Minister Jain held a meeting at Rohini Sector-24. The AAP’s strategy appears to be highlighting the works done by its government and making a comparison with the BJP-ruled civic bodies. To prevent any possible split in the anti-BJP votes, the AAP is asking people not to waste their franchise by voting for the Congress. 

The BJP on the other hand is showcasing the governance of PM Modi and accusing the Kejriwal government of “deliberately” weakening the civic bodies financially. “The kind of public service our workers rendered during the Covid time under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has become our party’s identity and would stand us in good stead in these by-elections,” said Manoj Tiwari during his campaign in Haiderpur village.