New Delhi: Based on their respective strengths, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the two largest parties in the 2013 Delhi Assembly elections, are all set to lock horns in the February 7 elections in the national capital. Riding on the Narendra Modi wave, the BJP is buoyed by the victories in the recent elections in several states while AAP is struggling hard to make a comeback after suffering a major blow in the Lok Sabha elections.
AAP is banking on garnering the support of marginalised sections of the society and the minorities. For the Congress, the upcoming election is likely to be a battle for survival.
Having registered a remarkable victory in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP is still enjoying the 'honeymoon' period. The cadres are in an upbeat mood with Modi as the Prime Minister and his confidante Amit Shah at the helms of affairs in the BJP. The party has completed just seven-odd months in power and the Opposition has failed to find any chinks in its governance.
So far, the Modi-Shah combine has created records of sorts in the states which have gone to elections ever since the BJP-led NDA came to power. For the first time, the BJP became the largest party in Maharashtra and lodged its own chief minister Devendra Fadnavis in Maharashtra. The same happened in Jharkhand where for the first time in the state's 14-year-old history a pre-poll alliance secured majority. In Haryana, it got a majority on its own and ML Khattar became the CM.
The BJP's record in Jammu and Kashmir has also not been unenviable. By winning 25 seats in the 87-member Assembly, it came a close second to the regional People's Democratic Party (PDP) which won 28 seats. Saddled on the king-maker position, BJP's talks with the PDP on government formation failed to make any headway, forcing the state under a spell of Governor's rule.
Armed with the momentum of the successive wins and the resultant euphoria, the BJP is hoping for a repeat of its erstwhile performance in Delhi as well. The party hopes to improve upon its tally of 31 seats which it had won in the 2013 elections. The party had projected its then state president Harsh Vardhan as the chief ministerial candidate. But with Modi's face doing the magic so far, the BJP has decided to face the Delhi elections without any face.
Compared with the 2013 Assembly elections when the BJP won 31 seats, it improved its performance in the Lok Sabha elections leading in 60 Assembly segments. The party even won all the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi. No wonder, state unit chief Satish Upadhyay has coined the slogan 'Mission 60+' for the forthcoming elections. The party hopes to garner votes from all sections of the society on the issue of good governance.
The AAP, on the other hand, is trying to bounce back having suffered major setback in the Lok Sabha elections. It is the only party which has projected a face. Like 2013 elections, AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal remains its poster boy.
Though a large chunk of the middle class voters has drifted away from AAP, the party is banking upon the votes of the lower middle class and lower class. The party, which had won 28 seats in its debut, is hoping to get the support of the minorities. AAP leaders know well that the minorities, who will not vote for the BJP, are likely to shift loyalty away from the Congress which is in disarray after repeated drubbings.
AAP had got the benefit of the people's wrath against the Congress in the last elections. However, it frittered away the win by forsaking power a bit too soon.
Kejriwal and other AAP leaders have repeatedly apologised to the voters for letting them down and abdicating power in mere 49 days. They can hope to pip the BJP at the hustings if, as they wish, the voters forget and forgive them.
The Congress too claims to be ready for elections though it has not much to boast about. It had won just eight seats in the last elections. However, its popularity seems to be on the downward slide. Having ruled Delhi for 15 long years under the chief ministership of Sheila Dikshit, it would be a great achievement for the Congress if it manages to hold on to its last performance.
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