Delhi BJP releases 'charge sheet' against AAP govt

With Assembly polls in Jharkhand done and dusted, the BJP has focused on its next destination - Delhi, where it had won all seven Lok Sabha seats in Lok Sabha polls in May, despite a 67/03 victory of AAP in 2015 Assembly polls.

On Saturday, the Delhi BJP came out with a litany of allegations against the five-year-old AAP government and released a "charge sheet" accusing Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of misleading the masses and stoking a fire during recent protests on the issue of Citizenship Amendment Act.

Debunking its claims of development, the BJP has been accusing the AAP of rather having obstructed the central government schemes for the benefit of the poor.

An indication that the BJP will use the issue of CAA and NRC to the hilt in the Delhi polls was available when party chief and Home Minister Amit Shah called on people in Delhi to “punish those who disturbed Delhi’s peace”.

So far, the AAP has been doing a delicate balance on the issue and been cautious that its stand on the issues does not give an opportunity to polarize voters in the state, which has a good number of refugees from Pakistan and a bitter memory of partition days.

Reacting to the BJP charge-sheet, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said his party will go through it and implement the good suggestions given in it in the next five years.

This is strikingly different from the confrontationist role adopted by AAP against the Centre in the initial years of his government coming to power. With an emerging pattern of voters choosing differently in Assembly and Lok Sabha polls, Kejriwal is clearly not keen on make the Delhi election a contest between him and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as such a scenario have resulted in tilting the balance in favour of the BJP in some state polls.

Arvid Kejriwal's party campaign is backed by poll strategist Prashant Kishor, who is banking on the Chief Minister's personality, while Congress is yet to pick up and the BJP does not have a very strong local face. "Achhe Beete Paanch Saal, Lage Raho Kejriwal" is the tagline of AAP's campaign, seeking continuity.