AGARTALA / DELHI, Feb 5 (TIWN): Tripura CM Biplab Deb in a “low crowded” rally of BJP organized in Madhav Bihar in support of BJP’s Palam Assembly Candidate Vijay Pandit expressed his surprises over how Arvind Kejriwal is Delhi’s CM, when Narendra Modi like leader is ruling the country. “I am really surprised and I think often, how having such a person like Narendra Modi, people of Delhi are voting for the AAP party of Kejriwal ? People of Delhi are educated. It should not happen”. CM asked BJP kariyakartas to go home to home and ask all to vote and it will make BJP to win, adding, “I know the pulse of Delhi. Just people should come out to cast vote”. Calling Kejriwal a Communist, CM said to BJP workers, “I ended Original Communist in Tripura, why can’t you end Duplicate Communist in Delhi ? Both Communist and Kejriwal Govts are same”.“Kejriwal is failed and proven as liar. Nothing he could give according to the promise including 500 schools and free wi-fi”, said Deb amid his fake promises exposed in own state like Colleges in each constituency, house to house jobs etc.

Noteworthy, Delhi will vote to elect a new assembly on 8 February, with anecdotal reports suggesting a bipolar contest between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The BJP won all seven Lok Sabha seats in the national capital in the 2019 elections. Its overall vote share was an overwhelming 57%. The AAP, in fact, finished third in terms of vote share. The BJP also controls all three municipal corporations in Delhi. These polls were held in 2017, when the AAP was already in power. Having spent a full term in office, the AAP should also be facing the headwinds of anti-incumbency.

These statistics should have made the BJP a clear favourite in the elections. Yet, it is being seen as the underdog. Its chances of edging past the AAP will largely depend on whether or not there is a consolidation of what the party thinks is a silent majority against the Shaheen Bagh protest. The sit-in led by women in this south-east Delhi neighbourhood has become the mascot of protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, or CAA. The BJP has been branding all opposition to the CAA as being against national interest per se.