Bedi owns up defeat, vows to work for Delhi

Losing her maiden Assembly election made Kiran Bedi, the BJP’s chief ministerial candidate, emotional on Tuesday even as she gracefully conceded defeat and sought forgiveness from the party and workers for not living up to their expectations.

“I haven’t lost as an individual as I gave it my best,” she said, admitting that the BJP had lost and the reasons for it will have to be analysed by the outfit.

Bedi lost from Krishna Nagar to S K Bagga of the AAP by 2,277 votes and quickly sought forgiveness from the party workers for not being able to live up to their expectations. “I don’t know why I lost. Winning and losing is party of all competitions,” she said, without even going to the counting centre. In a tweet, she said: “I lose only when I do not give my 100% to d cause. I gave it all. My party & we will reflect on the causes of defeat! Best wishes for Delhi (sic),” she tweeted.

Tears welled up in her eyes while speaking to reporters. She regained composure and said: “I hope Kejriwal will give all the facilities to the urban poor that he has promised... He will need to work hard to undo the harm done by the misrule of the Congress government.”

“Dharna is not needed but governance is required,” she said, urging Kejriwal to map the number of slums in the city, give them all facilities and check their spread. “I will request Kejriwal to stop encroachment,” she said.

“We should give better facilities to the existing slums and save public land from encroachment for building schools and parks,” she added.

Bedi said she would continue to be a member of the BJP and try to serve the city in whatever capacity possible. “I am happy to be a member of the BJP whose leadership is in the able hands of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” she said.

In the initial moments of the counting process, she kept on telling reporters to wait for the final outcome. “This is the first time I felt like this in my entire career as a police officer. I have never had to face such a situation,” she added.

Denying that the election result was a referendum on Modi government, she said, “The prime minister was not the chief ministerial candidate.”

 She rejected suggestions that the party cadre did not work for her.

Bedi congratulated Kejriwal on the AAP’s victory and said he reaped benefits of the hard work he put in during the anti-corruption movement of Anna Hazare in 2010.