Ahead of the senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi’s public meeting in Patparganj and Okhla Assembly constituencies on Tuesday, the BJP took a dig at him on Monday, saying he has decided to finish off his party while "saving" others.
This comes amid speculation over Congress leader Rahul Gandhi skipping campaigning for the Delhi Assembly polls. Calling it a ‘kiss-miss’ story, BJP’s national spokesperson Sambit Patra said, "Agar Rahulji karenge AAP ko kiss, to kaise nahi karenge AAP ke khilaf ho rahe campaign ko miss." He was replying to a question over the Congress leader's absence from his party's campaigning for the February 5 Delhi polls.
“If Gandhi ‘kisses’ the AAP behind the scenes, then of course he is expected to miss all the rallies of his own party,” the BJP leader said, adding that even though the Congress leader was absent at the Republic-Day parade on Sunday and from his party's campaign events in Delhi, he was in Mhow on Monday to attend a ‘Jai Bapu, Jai Bhim, Jai Samvidhan’ rally.
"Rahul Gandhi has decided to finish off the Congress in a bid to save others," Patra said, adding that Gandhi could not attend Congress rallies in the Madipur and Sadar Bazar constituencies in Delhi earlier this month as he was unwell.
Sources in the BJP said the success of the party's strategy to come back to power in Delhi after a gap of more than 25 years also depends on the performance of the Congress that has fielded candidates from all 70 seats.
In a triangular contest, a vote percentage of around 14 to 15 in favour of the Congress can prove crucial for the BJP in defeating the AAP, said a senior leader from the saffron party's Delhi unit. "But the scenario could be different if the Congress fails to get enough votes by deliberately slow-peddling its campaign, which is being seen now as neither Rahul Gandhi nor Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra nor party chief Mallikarjun Kharge has hit the streets," the BJP leader said.
The AAP routed both the Congress and the BJP in the 2015 and 2020 Delhi Assembly polls, winning 67 and 62 of the 70 seats respectively. The Congress drew a blank on both occasions.
The BJP scraped through with three and eight seats in 2015 and 2020 respectively. The vote percentage of the AAP was 54.6 and 53.6 in 2015 and 2020, while the BJP managed to secure 32.8 per cent and 38.5 per cent votes on the two occasions.
The Congress's vote share was 9.7 per cent in 2015. It further slid to 4.3 per cent in 2020.