By Rahul Vaishnavi,
New Delhi : Banking on a Modi wave that the BJP says has “grown stronger” since it stormed to power at the centre, the party’s Delhi unit is confident of sweeping the upcoming assembly poll and forming a government after 15 years, state party chief Satish Upadhyay said.
In an interview with IANS, Upadhyay said that the Narendra Modi government has created a “positive environment” in the country in the last six months of its rule and, therefore, the prime minister will be the party’s star campaigner in Delhi.
“In the last election, Modi-ji was not the prime minister but now he is. In the last six months, the country has gone through a transformation. The policies that he has implemented have resulted in building a positive environment and there is no trust deficit amongst the people.
“The work done by Modiji will definitely help our prospects in Delhi and I am sure that we will win the Delhi poll and form a government,” a confident Upadhyay said.
Asked whether Modi would be the star campaigner, Upadhyay said: “Yes. He will definitely campaign in Delhi as per his availability.”
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is desperate to win in Delhi and, therefore, party president Amit Shah, who has been credited with the party’s stellar performance in Uttar Pradesh during the April-May general elections in many of the subsequent state polls, is personally supervising the campaigning in the national capital, Upadhyay said.
“We are fighting the poll under Amitji’s supervision and leadership. He is the party president and his guidance is very important for us,” he added.
The BJP won 31 seats in the last election to the 70-member house that threw up a fractured mandate.
The fight was particularly interesting in around half a dozen seats that witnessed a close contest between the BJP and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
According to Upadhyay, these are the key seats for the BJP where the party will campaign “aggressively”.
“We are analyzing the loopholes in our campaign last time round (on these seats) so that we don’t commit the same mistakes again. Our campaigning will be aggressive,” Upadhyay asserted.
The party is also likely to retain its candidates in these seats.
“Those who lost by a narrow margin will definitely be given first preference when ticket distribution begins because winnability is the only factor that counts,” Upadhyay said.
Furthermore, the party is hopeful of bagging more seats this time thanks to the inflow of AAP and Congress leaders who are joining the BJP ahead of the polls.
Former AAP leaders like M.S. Dhir, Ashok Chauhan and Ashwini Upadhyay have given a major boost to the party’s confidence and as per Upadhyay, more leaders from other parties are “in touch” with the BJP.
“There are some more leaders from other parties (Congress, AAP) who are in touch with us. They will be inducted once they are properly screened and are found to be deserving,” he said.
Taking on the AAP, which has replaced the Congress as BJP’s main competitor in Delhi, Upadhyay dismissed its campaign boasting of its 49-day rule in Delhi and claiming that it fulfilled all its promises.
“The AAP has nothing new to offer. They did nothing substantial in their 49 days, except for talking big and making allegations. They stand exposed before the people of Delhi,” Upadhyay said.
(Rahul Vaishanvi can be contacted on [email protected] )