What worked for BJP, what didn’t for Cong in Gurgaon

Gurgaon: A battery of party workers supported by RSS and its associate outfits, talk of high-profile infrastructure projects, and a campaign strategy that involved dropping all sitting MLAs and bringing in star campaigners to the city -- are among reasons cited by BJP workers for their party's better-than-expected performance in assembly elections.
A BJP functionary told TOI on Tuesday that one of the key changes was getting Arun Kumar, a prominent RSS member who acted as a liaison official with BJP, in Haryana.
"Part of the Sangh's newer generation of leadership, Kumar was instrumental in coordinating between the two and ensuring that BJP's messaging reached the masses," the functionary said.
"We owe this remarkable achievement to the guidance of Arun Kumar, whose strategic brilliance was pivotal in shaping our campaign. His tireless efforts on the ground and the commitment of our karyakartas have been integral to our success," said Arun Yadav, Haryana BJP's social media head.
Another party worker said BJP ensured that the central govt's infrastructure projects, including Dwarka Expressway built by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), were visible to all. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had inaugurated the city stretch of the speedway earlier this year.
BJP's narrative in campaign speeches of ending Congress's "parchi-kharchi (cash for jobs)" method of job recruitments and corruption was another factor that resonated with voters, the worker said.
"This narrative was amplified by Congress candidates, who themselves spoke of ‘job quotas'," the worker added. He was referring to a statement made by Congress's Faridabad NIT candidate Neeraj Sharma, who had promised to give one job in return for every 50 votes.
Sharma, who later said his remark was misrepresented, lost to his BJP rival Satish Kumar Phagna from the assembly seat.
In Gurgaon, where there was a lot of noise about civic issues the likes of damaged roads, annual monsoon waterlogging and inadequate drain network and waste management, BJP dropped all its sitting candidates in the district, helping counter anti-incumbency.
"Voter participation in condominiums was low and that helped neutralize this anger too," the worker said.
It showed in the results declared on Tuesday. BJP, which had won three seats in the 2019 assembly polls, made a clean sweep by winning all four constituencies in the district – Gurgaon (Mukesh Sharma), Badshapur (Rao Narbir Singh), Pataudi (Bimla Chaudhary) and Sohna (Tejpal Tanwar).
The party's social media head also attributed its victory in the state, and in Gurgaon, to its image of clean governance under former CM Manohar Lal Khattar and sitting chief minister Nayab Singh Saini.
Similarly, BJP deployed Union ministers and chief ministers of other states to hold rallies and events in Gurgaon.
A stark contrast was that of Congress, which hasn't developed its organisation at the district-level. The party left the poll campaign largely on the shoulders of its young debutantes – Mohit Grover in Gurgaon, and Vardhan Yadav in Badshapur with little to no ground support.
"Congress has not even appointed a district president till now. BJP, on the other hand, even set up a panna pramukh (booth-level leaders who reach out to voters). And RSS workers held hundreds of meetings in each constituency to uplift the party's campaign," the BJP worker said.
Asked for possible reasons it couldn't make inroads in Gurgaon, Congress's Pankaj Darbar said the "result was not in accordance with the public's sentiments. We will analyse the result and check what went wrong".