SAFFRON SUNRISE: A

More than 27 years after an onion price crisis left a bitter taste in voters' mouths and led to the ouster of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in 1998, the lotus has bloomed again in the Capital on the back of a strong campaign that focused on honest governance and civic issues rather than ideological polarisation.

- Paras Singh

NEW DELHI:

After the BJP lost six consecutive assembly elections between 1998 and 2020, it finally outsmarted the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on the issue of electoral freebies and welfare schemes, made inroads in slum clusters with a sustained seven-month outreach, highlighted the civic morass that had engulfed the Capital, and consolidated the urban middle-class voter base with tax benefits and dreams of world-class infrastructure.

It took a multilayered strategy to breach the AAP's fortress.

For one, the BJP successfully kept the spotlight on a barrage of corruption cases and investigations launched against top AAP leaders—ranging from the liquor policy case to the chief minister's "Sheesh Mahal" (shimmering palace)—which dented the ruling party's image. Former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, once an anti-corruption crusader, was castigated by the BJP as a corrupt leader who broke voters' trust.

BJP national vice-president and the party's Delhi election in-charge Baijayant Panda said the biggest reason behind the BJP's historic victory was "the unwavering trust of Delhi's people in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's guarantee."

"People noticed how we deliver on the promises we make... People were fed up with the 'AAP-da' (catastrophic) government," he said.

The BJP emphasised that there would be smooth governance if it got elected—one that wouldn't be consumed by an exchange of letters and barbs between the state government and the lieutenant governor's office, as seen during the AAP reign. "People believed that a double-engine government will not fight with the Centre and that instead of politics of vivaad (fights), we'll deliver on the politics of vikas," Panda said.

Over the past month, the party held a campaign blitz led by Modi who held five mega rallies, apart from 650 assembly-level rallies featuring six chief ministers, Cabinet ministers, NDA allies and 125,000 drawing-room meetings.