New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi exemplifies that good governance is good politics, but former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal represents just the opposite, and believes in disruption and lying his way through, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri has said, dismissing talks about the upcoming Delhi assembly polls being a Modi-versus-Kejriwal contest.
In an exclusive interview to ThePrint, the petroleum and natural gas minister listed three factors that would lead to the defeat of the Aam Aadmi Party and victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
“The credibility of AAP has eroded. So firstly, anti-incumbency. Secondly, credibility and third is personal corruption. That is the most important thing now because all three feed into each other. It’s not just anti-incumbency. The anti-incumbency is getting worse because of the credibility crisis, and the credibility is also getting more eroded because of the corruption,” said Puri.
Adding that there is no dearth of talent in the BJP, Puri said that instead of asking the BJP about its chief ministerial candidate, Kejriwal should specify who their candidate is. “I think Mr. Kejriwal, for want of anything worthwhile to say, has been saying Mr. X is going to be the Delhi BJP CM. The issue is you first make up your own mind as to who will be yours. Will it be the temporary CM, or the interim CM, or a former CM?”
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Commenting on how the absence of a chief ministerial face is being touted by many as one of the drawbacks of the BJP’s campaign, Puri said that it was an “absurd way of thinking”.
“‘Leadership is not something which is predetermined, leaders grow,” he said. “We are a party of karyakartas. Had you heard of the names of the current chief ministers of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh before they were appointed? I’d heard of their names, but I didn’t have any idea if they were going to be chief ministers.”
BJP will decide on the matter after being elected, he told ThePrint.
Delhi assembly has remained elusive for the BJP for over two decades now. The party has been out of power in Delhi since 1998 and views this election as an opportunity to regain power in the national capital.
“You agonise about a CM’s face, if you have a dearth of talent. Today in Delhi, you have no shortage of BJP leaders. There are people who have been full time MLAs, who could stake a claim. There are newcomers in the party…very well educated, steeped into the party activities,” he said.
Delhi goes to polls on 5 February. The counting of votes will take place on 8 February.
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‘Most corrupt political outfit’
Refuting the claim that BJP has centered its campaign for the 2025 assembly elections on Kejriwal, the minister said that they have been targeting the lack of work by the AAP government for the last 10 years.
“If you look at their manifestos of 2015 and 2020, and all the guarantees that they gave, it’s the AAP which had to deliver. Kejriwal is the face of that party, and he continues to be so, in spite of the fact that there is a temporary chief minister,” he argued.
While the AAP came into existence on an anti-corruption plank, it has become “the most corrupt political outfit in the world”, Puri said.
“The culture of this corruption with impunity…and they’ve got caught because people now are in a position to remind them that your beginnings were during the anti-corruption agitation of Anna Hazare. Now you’ve become the most corrupt outfit not only in India, but perhaps you vie for a place even amongst the most corrupt outfits of the world.”
Even as the BJP has so far decided not to name a chief ministerial candidate, it is relying on ‘Brand Modi’ to come to power.
‘Rampant anti-incumbency’
Asked whether the national capital is witnessing a Modi versus Kejriwal contest, Puri said: “Where is Mr. Modi, where is Kejriwal? Mr. Modi has 10 years, not only as prime minister with solid delivery. Even after 10 years, the NDA got 293, which is above the required number. He was also chief minister before that for many years, and he ran a state. There’s no comparison there.”
He further said that BJP will always continue to draw inspiration from the prime minister because he “epitomises and manifests ‘sabka saath, sabka vishwaas’ in his personality”.
“For instance, we were the 11th or 10th largest economy in 2014. Today, we are the fifth largest. This year itself, we’ll become the fourth largest, and within a year or two, the third largest. That economic growth is what shows that Mr. Modi has exemplified good governance is good politics.”
He went on: “Mr. Kejriwal is the opposite. He believes in the opposite of good governance. He believes in disruption, but not of the positive kind. He believes in lying his way through. He said in 2015 and again in 2020 that if he doesn’t clean up the Yamuna ji, he will not come and ask for a vote. Well, he’s back here a third time, and the only discussion on Yamuna ji is whether it’s polluted 500 times more than the prescribed levels or 2,000 times more.”
There is “rampant anti-incumbency”, he said. “Don’t underestimate the maturity of the people of Delhi. A political party can only come and provide a narrative, but ultimately it’s the people who decide.”
The minister alleged: “The Delhi voter has seen it all. They’ve seen Mr. Kejriwal, the man who came and said that he won’t take sarkari bungalows or cars. One of my colleagues filed an RTI, and you know how much the government of National Capital Territory of Delhi has spent on his cars—Rs 1.45 crore.”
‘BJP empowered slum dwellers’
Slums and the rehabilitation of slum dwellers has been a major flashpoint between the AAP government and BJP. Puri said that contrary to Kejriwal’s claims that BJP will demolish slums if it is voted to power, it has empowered slum dwellers.
“When I was the housing and urban affairs minister, which I was for seven years, 3,200 beautifully constructed modern flats with all amenities were given to the dwellers and informal settlements,” he told ThePrint.
While Puri refused to comment on the debate on ‘revdi culture’, which was once criticised by Prime Minister Modi, he said, “I don’t want to comment on the culture in the context of Delhi because the BJP manifesto still has to come out. I cannot be saying something anticipating what’s in it or not, but there is a fundamental philosophical difference between what BJP says and does, and what the opposition parties do.”
He added, “Two things—one is that the BJP is the party in office. When we say something, we have to deliver because we have to find the resources. Whereas if a party is in Opposition, it can make any claim it wants, knowing fully well that it is not going to come in, but it’ll be held as a benchmark.”
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)
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