New Delhi: From former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s “sheesh mahal” to air and water pollution in the Capital, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has drawn up an elaborate campaign to get the better of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the 2025 Delhi assembly election.
As it is, the BJP’s internal surveys suggest that Delhi’s ruling AAP currently has an edge over the BJP, a trend which the latter believes will start reversing once the poll process kicks in.
“The gap has been closing up slowly. According to our surveys, while we are getting 30 (of 70 assembly seats), the AAP is likely to get 40. More such surveys will be conducted and we are sure this number would have increased for the BJP already,” a source in the party told ThePrint.
According to a senior BJP leader, based on several inputs received by the party, the BJP is likely to focus more on the “sheesh mahal” allegations, pertaining to the alleged use of “extravagant luxurious items” to renovate the official bungalow occupied by Kejriwal in his capacity as Delhi CM.
“We want to highlight the ‘sheesh mahal’ issue to showcase how Arvind Kejriwal, who came to power in Delhi on an anti-corruption plank, has, in fact, indulged in corruption. This issue has emotive value and people will be able to connect with it more, rather than, say, the liquor scam,” said the leader.
The BJP has long been raising the issue of corruption charges against Kejriwal and has held a number of protests against him, seeking his response.
“It is a direct allegation of corruption and AAP has not been able to counter it. In the coming days, we will highlight this issue more,” he added.
The “sheesh mahal” row is just one of many issues that are part of the BJP’s campaign against AAP. Other efforts include countering the AAP government’s “freebies” via a major welfare scheme for women voters, highlighting CM Atishi’s “failure” to improve infrastructure in Delhi while she was Public Works Department minister, and connecting with slum-dwellers.
Speaking to ThePrint, Baijayant Panda, BJP MP and Delhi poll in-charge, said: “There is high anti-incumbency against the AAP government in Delhi. Our campaign has hit the ground running and is assertively exposing the AAP. The BJP is reaching out to every section of society and engaging with voters.”
“Our karyakartas are successfully countering AAP’s false propaganda that a BJP government will remove many facilities for citizens. The feedback is positive and Delhiites of all categories are responding enthusiastically to examples of PM Narendra Modi’s guarantees in other states which have already been implemented as promised,” he added.
The AAP last month had dismissed the allegations over Kejriwal’s “sheesh mahal” as “politically motivated”
“The BJP has unleashed countless investigations against AAP leaders, yet not a single rupee of wrongdoing has been proven. These tactics will not deter us,” AAP had said in a statement, adding that Kejriwal had vacated the official residence of the CM following his resignation.
Also Read: As Delhi assembly polls loom, why AAP is turning up the heat on Amit Shah
BJP campaign planks
The party has plans for a major welfare scheme for women voters in Delhi, according to central BJP sources.
It is looking to opt for a direct cash transfer scheme, believing it will make a “real difference” in the lives of people, rather than indulging in what it terms as “freebies” being doled out by the current AAP government.
The BJP had announced a similar scheme in Maharashtra, called the Ladki Bahin Yojana, which was inspired by Madhya Pradesh’s Ladli Behna Yojana. Implemented by the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led BJP government in January 2023, the scheme played an instrumental role in the party’s spectacular win in the Madhya Pradesh assembly polls late last year.
The BJP is further looking to question Atishi about infrastructure in Delhi and will also make efforts to connect with slum-dwellers by organising ‘pravas’ (night stay) at slums. The idea, a senior Delhi BJP functionary said, is to understand their issues and include them in the party manifesto.
The slum-dwellers have long favoured the AAP in Delhi and constitute a vote-bank that is eyed by all political parties.
According to estimates, around 20 lakh people live in Delhi’s slums. Though they were traditionally supporters of the Congress, especially under the tenure of former CM Sheila Dikshit, the AAP managed to win them over during the assembly elections of 2013 and 2015 through a series of targeted policies such as mohalla clinics, reduction in power and water bills and provision of basic amenities in slum clusters.
Now, the BJP, through its ‘Ratri Pravas Samvad Abhiyaan’, has started reaching out to the sum-dwellers. In November, led by Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva, a number of party leaders took part in this programme to reach out to people residing in 250 jhuggi clusters across the city.
The BJP’s national leadership is keen to field a number of senior leaders, including former MPs Parvesh Verma, Meenakashi Lekhi and Ramesh Bidhuri, former MLA Arvinder Singh Lovely, as well as Sachdeva, to give “tough” competition to the AAP leaders, according to sources in the party, who also said that Verma is keen to contest against Kejriwal from the New Delhi assembly seat.
The party will further deploy a battery of leaders and workers from across the country for election management and campaign.
“The idea is to take guidance from these leaders and strategise better for the elections. The way we won Haryana and Maharashtra, we need to coordinate in a better manner and ensure a win this time,” said the BJP functionary.
Even during the municipal elections, the party had deployed chief ministers and Union ministers who addressed a number of rallies in the national capital.
The BJP has also accused the AAP government of not implementing the Ayushman Bharat Yojana, which is in place in other states, in Delhi. The BJP has now promised to implement the scheme in Delhi if voted to power.
‘We just need to convert vote-share into seats’
In the 2025 Delhi elections, the BJP is confident of improving its vote share. In 2020, the party’s vote share was 38.51 percent compared to 32.3 percent that it had got in the 2015 assembly elections. However, the BJP managed to win barely eight seats out of 70 the last time.
The AAP, on the other hand, secured 53.57 percent of the vote share in 2020, a little less from 54 percent in 2015.
“Despite not winning seats, we did manage to increase our vote-share (in 2020), so this time round we just need to convert the vote share into seats,” said the senior BJP leader.
The BJP has been out of power in Delhi since 1998 and sees this election as a golden opportunity to regain the reins of the national capital. Several party leaders also claim that the AAP has lost its “sheen”.
At the parliamentary level, the BJP has had a successful run in Delhi, wresting all of the Capital’s seven Lok Sabha seats in 2014, 2019 and 2024. However, assembly results have been disappointing and the party currently holds just eight of 70 seats. The AAP won 62 seats in the 2020 elections.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
Also Read: After Ladli Behna & Ladki Bahin, Delhi BJP has its own scheme in the works to woo women voters
