THE BJP has so far not released any names for the Delhi Assembly elections – trailing both the Aam Aadmi Party and Congress in this – let alone clarified whether it will have a chief minister face or not. However, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually launched the BJP’s campaign for the Capital Friday, pitting his government model directly against the AAP’s, any remaining doubts about who would lead it, and how, were settled.

It was also a resounding reply to constant jabs by AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal at the BJP, asking it to reveal its CM face and vision for Delhi. The AAP was, in reality, “aapda (disaster)” for Delhi, Modi said. Listing the alleged scams under the AAP government, he said: “Anna Hazare ji ko saamne karke, kuch kattar baimaan logon ne Delhi ko aapda main dhakel diya (Using Anna Hazare ji as a facade, some totally corrupt people have pushed Delhi into disaster).”

Winning Delhi is crucial for the BJP, which has now been out of power in the Capital for more than 25 years, with the Modi wave collapsing against the AAP surge in the past two Assembly elections. However, the fact that the BJP again swept all the seven seats in Delhi in the Lok Sabha polls, held earlier this year, makes the party confident of Modi’s continuing popularity in the Capital. This sweep survived the decline in seats for the BJP in neighbouring states such as Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.

While Friday’s event saw the inauguration of a raft of infrastructural projects for Delhi by Modi, the PM quickly moved on to the “initiatives” of his government for the Capital, contrasting these with that of the AAP government’s.

Among the key pillars of the Kejriwal-led AAP’s governance model are mohalla clinics, improvement in government schools and power and water subsidies.

Modi touched upon all those.

The PM said: “On one side are the efforts made by the Central government in the education sector in Delhi… and on the other are the plain lies of the state government.” Those running the government in Delhi for the past 10 years (AAP) had damaged the school education system, Modi claimed, adding that the state had not been able to spend half the funds allocated to it for education.

Most of the big ticket projects in Delhi were happening under the Central government, the PM said, listing roads, the Metro, hospitals and college campuses. “Whatever responsibility the aapada government here has, they have put a break on it… They don’t have a vision.”

In contrast, he said, the initiatives of the BJP government have ensured that the poor and middle class get facilities and save money.

While the AAP offers free electricity up to 200 units, Modi said the BJP government at the Centre has virtually made power bills zero. “And not just that. We are creating opportunities to earn money from electricity. The PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana has made every household electricity producer,” he said.

On health, Modi talked about the 500 Pradhan Mantri Jan Aushadi Kendras in Delhi, where medicines are sold at almost 80% discount. “I want to give the people of Delhi the benefit of Ayushman free healthcare yojana as well, but the aapda government has not allowed its implementation here,” he said. “Modi is not able to be of service to you despite wanting to… All because of the sins of this aapda.”

Since the AAP first arose on the political horizon, it has underlined itself as a party of “the common man”, with its symbol of the jhadoo or broom supposed to also signify that. From the slum dwellers enjoying benefits of free power and water under the AAP government, to autorickshaw drivers whom the party has assiduously wooed, the poor have been the party’s strongest vote bank.

Modi directly targeted them Friday. Inaugurating 1,675 newly constructed flats for economically weaker sections as part of his spree of projects, he said: “The country knows very well that Modi never built a home for himself. But, in the past 10 years, four crore poor have been given houses. I could have also built a sheesh mahal (a reference to the BJP’s allegations that, as CM, Kejriwal splurged on the renovation of his official residence). But my dream was to ensure a pucca house for the people of the country.”

Encouraging the beneficiaries to spread the word about the houses, Modi said: “When you go among the people, among those still living in slum clusters, promise them on my behalf – for me, you are Modi – aaj nahin toh kal, unko pucca ghar milega (today, if not tomorrow, they will get a pucca house).”

Modi said his government’s one nation, one ration card scheme had also been of great help to the people of Delhi. “Until some time ago, even getting a ration card in Delhi was difficult… Aapada wale toh ration card banaane hi mein ghoos lete thay (The AAP people would take bribes even to make ration cards). Now people are able to save money on rations,” he said.

One of the weakest links for the Congress remains the Emergency imposed by the Indira Gandhi government. The Modi government has raised the suppression of fundamental rights under that provision to counter the Congress’s campaign against it over the Constitution.

While the Congress found no mention in Modi’s speech, Modi suggested a personal connect with Ashok Vihar, where Friday’s event was held. It was in this colony that he had stayed when he was underground during the Emergency, the PM said.

The AAP government’s two past tenures have been marked by near daily conflict with the Lieutenant Governor, with the powers of the latter further expanded by a change in law brought by the Modi government. Kejriwal and CM Atishi have accused the current LG, V K Saxena, of putting hurdles in the way of the AAP government and especially its trademark schemes.

On Friday, Modi addressed this, saying: “Remember, wherever the aapda government is not involved, work is taking place smoothly. The DDA is an example, the state government is not involved much in it. So the DDA is able to make houses for the poor and the middle class… Taking piped gas to houses, in this too, there is no role of aapda. Highways and expressways are being constructed in Delhi because the state government is not involved.”

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