After its humiliating defeat at the hands of AAP in the Delhi polls, the BJP today admitted that it is a “big setback” and the party will soon introspect the reasons behind the dismal showing.
The party also said Delhi’s loss is a “collective failure” of the party and the defeat cannot be thrown on any single individual, seen as an attempt to deflect any blame on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The party leaders while congratulating Arvind Kejriwal, hoped he will now fulfil the promises made to the people and ensure the development of Delhi even as the Centre promised to extend all its support to the new Government.
“It is a big setback for us. We will assess the reasons of the defeat. We accept the verdict of the people and hope Kejriwal fulfils his promises made to he people. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said, the Centre will extend all help to Delhi government,” BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said.
Party General Secretary P Murlidhar Rao said, “BJP’s defeat in Delhi elections is a collective failure of our party. It cannot be thrown on any single individual. We all own the loss.”
“Election results for Delhi state is a setback for BJP. BJP accepts (the) defeat in Delhi elections. We respect the verdict (and) will positively cooperate with Delhi government on development,” Rao tweeted.
He felt that since the Haryana elections, where BJP got a majority, has not impacted Delhi polls, “why would the Delhi elections impact BJP in other States”.
“Extending the verdict of Delhi elections to unrelated issues is like stretching it too far. Central Government’s performance was not an election issue,” he said in another tweet.
Another BJP spokesperson Nalin Kohli said the party will assess the reasons why the party failed to appeal to Delhi voters and hoped Kejriwal will fulfil all the promises made.
“It is a huge victory for AAP. BJP would certainly assess what were the reasons that we have not been able to appeal to the voters of Delhi. We wish AAP well for delivering on the promises made and give Delhi a good government,” he said.
The party’s Delhi unit chief Satish Upadhyay admitted that the party failed to understand the mood of the people.