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This is an archive article published on May 18, 2009
Day after,BJP blames the BSP for defeat
While the top brass of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has gracefully accepted the peoples verdict,its Delhi unit believes a poor showing by the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) contributed to the Congress clean sweep in the Capital.
Written by Vidya Krishnan
New Delhi | May 18, 2009 11:31 PM IST
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While the top brass of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has gracefully accepted the peoples verdict,its Delhi unit believes a poor showing by the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) contributed to the Congress clean sweep in the Capital.
According to Chetan Chauhan,ever since Haji Dilshad Ali of the BSP defected to the Congress two days before the polls,they had been on a shaky wicket. It had an adverse effect not just on the BSP but on the BJP too. The results are disappointing,but had the BSP put up a better show,the BJP would have fared better, said Chauhan,the losing BJP candidate from East Delhi.
The saffron party was expecting the BSP to cut into Congress votes and thereby help its candidates.
Contradicting the BJPs campaign of determined leader,decisive government,the partys Delhi unit president O P Kohli said the public wanted a stable government and the perception was not in favour of the saffron party. Though the BSPs poor performance was a contributing factor,it is not the sole reason. The public wanted a party that would not depend on alliances and the UPA was relatively in a stronger position to provide such a government, said Kohli. While the defeat has been a setback for the BJP,it has affected the third and fourth fronts more. This mandate has rendered them irrelevant, he added.
B L Sharma Prem,the BJP candidate from Northeast,agreed. Had Haji Dilshad not switched sides at the last minute,BJP would have done much better. Apart from the performance of other parties,what mainly affected the BJP in Northeast was that the public did not support our line of thinking. Our workers worked just as hard as any other party. The responsibility for losing in this area lies solely with me, he said.
BSP rejects claim
KANWAR Singh Tanwar,the BSP candidate from South Delhi,said the BJPs claim was not correct. The BSP,despite being new to Delhi,did manage to get more than 3 lakh votes. To say that they didnt dent the vote bank of Congress would be wrong, he said. Tanwar added: We performed well in the municipal and Assembly elections. I got more than 88,000 votes this time. That isnt bad. We will fight the municipal elections with more gusto now. The reason we didnt deliver as per expectations was because there was a Congress wave. But we will work hard in the future.
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