NEW DELHI,8 April 2007 — Capitalizing on mass anger over several issues, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) yesterday crushed the ruling Congress party to take control of the main civic body in the Indian capital with a landslide victory.
The BJP dealt a body blow to the Congress, winning 164 of the 272 seats in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). The Congress, which in 2002 had won 108 of the then total 134 seats, could manage only 69 this time. The remaining seats went to independents and smaller parties, with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which has been steadily improving its performance in the capital, pocketing a respectable 15. The voting took place on Thursday.
As jubilant BJP leaders and supporters took to the streets dancing and distributing sweets to the beating of drums, disgruntled Congress leaders blamed one another for the humiliating drubbing. At least 20 legislators and local leaders of the Congress demanded the resignation of Ram Babu Sharma, their party leader in Delhi who never saw eye to eye with the more popular Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.
A chastened Sheila Dikshit was the first to concede defeat. She also wished the BJP “all the best” in the running the MCD — the biggest, richest and reputedly most inefficient among three civic bodies in the national capital. But like most of her colleagues, she too cited the Supreme Court ordered sealing of shops in residential areas, which last year ignited mass protests, as the main reason for the debacle.
“Sealing was the major reason behind this defeat,” she said. “Since we are the ruling party, we had to carry out the court order. The mandate showed we had to face the anger of the people.” But Sheila Dikshit, who has been chief minister since 1998 and will face assembly elections in Delhi next year, immediately added: “One loss does not mean we will lose always.”
Mayor Farhad Suri of the Congress said shooting prices of essential commodities as well as infighting in his party also played key roles in the defeat. “We will introspect.”
BJP Delhi unit chief Harsh Vardhan was supremely confident of similarly winning the 2008 assembly elections too. “This is just the beginning,” he asserted.
Some of the major winners were Subash Arya, Ram Narayan and Ashwini Ahuja (all BJP), Satbir Singh, Farhad Suri and Mukesh Kumar (all Congress), Pravin Gupta and Sharad Kumar (both BSP) and Angoori Devi (Independent).
Delhi’s harried citizens cited several reasons why the mood swung against the Congress. “I voted for BJP for the first time in my life because I am sick and tired of the way this city is run,” said N.P. Ishwaran, a resident of south Delhi. “I wanted the Congress to go.” Added Pawan Bansal, also from south Delhi: “In the area where I live, the BJP hardly did any campaigning, yet they won easily. There was so much anger against the Congress.”
The MCD elections are seen as a curtain raiser for Delhi’s assembly elections due next year. And coming on top of the Punjab and Uttarakhand defeats, analysts called it a major wake up call for the Congress.
Indirectly blaming her own party’s state unit for defeat, Sheila Dikshit called for introspection. “It is certainly not a good day. We really need to go down, why this happened. What was the cause of it?”
Some Congress leaders asked Ram Babu Sharma, who lacks charisma, to step down.
Said Jitender Kochar, the Congress leader in the outgoing MCD: “Sharma should step down on moral ground. Had I been in his place, I would have done so in the morning.”
The BJP, which won only 16 wards in 2002 and has been repeatedly losing elections in Delhi, promised 25 yards of land to all displaced slum dwellers and a relief from the sealing operation.
