The charmer, the crusader and the battle to gain ground. The stage has been set for Delhi as the Assembly Elections are around the corner. ARUNODAY PRAKASH scrutinises the situation

The stage is set for the most fierce battle for supremacy in Delhi; the national capital. The two main contenders for the Delhi throne, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), are gearing up to cross the magic figure in the Delhi Assembly. While the BJP boasts of the charisma and magic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the AAP is relying on its achievements during the 49-days of governance. The Congress, which has been pushed to the number three slot in Delhi, is also trying to gain some lost ground.

There seems to be an imminent head-on contest between the AAP and BJP on most of the seats, barring a few strongholds of the Congress party. All the three parties have their own advantages and threats in the polls to come. 

The Saffron Deck

The BJP was the number one party in Delhi in the last Assembly polls and in the general elections 2014. Going by the mood and perception in the media, it will romp home very easily; thanks to its ace — Modi. However, it’s not going to be a cakewalk for the party on the ground. Though it has a strong presence and appeal in the business class, urban voters and the middle class, it could face a stiff challenge if the Muslims, Sikhs, lower class and slum voters walk with AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal. But it has a clear cut edge over its main rival, the AAP, as far as funds, resources and star power is concerned. The BJP has planned to rope in all its 282 MPs to campaign for the party; each MP, according to sources, has been asked to address at least three public meetings in the area in which they can connect well. The party’s Delhi game plan is being prepared by none other than its master strategist Amit Shah.

The BJP has decided not to name anyone as its chief ministerial candidate and rather bank on Brand Modi. This has been done after victory in the Haryana and Maharashtra polls where the party was successful in romping home with the tag line “Chalo Chalein Modi Ke Saath”. But the same factor could hit the party in Delhi as Kejriwal, according to surveys, is still the leading choice for the CM post.

Another edge for the BJP is people from the AAP joining it. This could favour the saffron party; perception matters in politics and Haryana is a big example. Senior leaders from several parties joined the BJP in the Jatland at the last moment and have been rewarded well. Also, there can be another angle to this; Delhi is not Haryana.

In Delhi, the BJP has a major presence and several candidates in every constituency unlike Haryana. Accommodating these crossovers might not go down well with the party cadres in Delhi.

The Broom Pack

Former Delhi CM and anti-corruption crusader Kejriwal leads the pack of the AAP. He is the ace and face of his party and has a mass appeal greater than any other leader in it. The party’s campaign revolves around Kejriwal and his 49-day Government. If the BJP doesn’t name anyone for the CM post, the AAP is likely to make it a major plank; ‘Kejriwal vs IJ’AAP has decided to reach out to each voter of Delhi through its volunteers and leaders; the style of campaign it undertook the last time. The party has a major appeal among the minorities and slum areas, which it plans to consolidate further. It also has a major task cut out for it — winning back the disgruntled middle and upper middle class voters.

On the social media front, AAP has once again left no stone unturned to tap the young voters through its online outreach campaign. A pro-AAP campaign with hash-tag MufflerMan has been trending on social networking site Twitter; similar campaigns are being run on other sites like Facebook. However, the party has worries too. It has lesser resources than both the other contenders, a section of the media is hostile, a section of Delhi citizens are not happy and last but not the least, some of leaders are now rebels or have deserted the party. The AAP might also field some of its lok Sabha candidates, who lost in Delhi, in the Assembly Elections to better its tally.

The Grand Old Bunch

The Congress party has nothing to lose in Delhi. It lost the ground in the Assembly Elections and went down further in the lok Sabha polls. The party is trying hard to move ahead and cover its losses. In an attempt to do so, the party’s senior leadership is putting up a united face and trying to rope in new faces who could win Assembly seats for them.

The combination of DPCC chief Arvinder Singh lovely and Haroon Yusuf are running the show of the Congress in Delhi. lovely, reportedly, has the backing of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi. The duo has also roped in 1984 riot accused leaders Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler, though the party has officially denied any role for them in the elections.

The party is working hard to get back the minority votes, especially from the Muslims, to its fold. In this attempt, senior party leaders worked overtime to get former JD (U) MlA from Matia Mahal, Shoaib Iqbal, to join the party with his supporters to send out a positive signal to the community, which has swiftly moved towards the AAP.

Apart from the minority votes, another traditional chunk of voters of the Congress, the lower class and the slum voters, are fast moving to the AAP. The fresh challenge for the Congress is to get them back.

The party is in a mood to induct several new faces in Delhi. President Pranab Mukherjee’s daughter Sharmishtha Mukherjee, Sheila Dikshit’s daughter latika Syed and some former MPs might get party tickets. Sharmishtha wants to contest from the Greater Kailash constituency while latika is said to be interested in contesting from New Delhi. There are several other new faces which could figure once the official list of the party is out.

However, in this game, the Congress doesn’t have any aces like its rivals, and this might prove to be its biggest weakness. It has made lovely its campaign face with a development agenda on its platter.

The Congress is eyeing the same vote bank which the AAP is, and this could well be a game-changer in the elections to come.

The writer is Managing Editor of The Political Indian