BJP Wave Sweeps AAP Away

AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal, former Dy CM Manish Sisodia & many of its top leaders lost in their own bastions

- ASHOK TUTEJA

Delhi has given its verdict for a 'double-engine government'.

The BJP, cashing in on the charisma of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Saturday dislodged the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) from power in Delhi, thus staging a remarkable comeback in the national capital after being in political exile for 27 years.

Such was the discontent against the ten-year uninterrupted rule of the AAP that its supremo Arvind Kejriwal, former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and many of its top leaders lost in their own bastions, putting a big question mark over the future of the party which had caught the people's imagination after its formation in November 2012 following a massive anti-corruption movement.

The BJP's huge win in the national capital is a shot in the arm for PM Modi too, coming as it does after the saffron party's victories in Haryana and Maharashtra.

The Modi magic, which appeared to be waning, after the Lok Sabha elections in May-June last year when the BJP failed to get a majority on its own, has again worked wonders for the saffron party.

That the BJP is fully dependent on "Modi ki Guarantee" was quite visible in the Delhi elections with the party not naming its chief ministerial candidate and projecting only the PM as its face.