Union home minister and former BJP president Amit Shah met BJP corporators in the capital on Wednesday night ahead of the February 8 polls following reports that some corporators were not following the party’s instruction on campaigning and supporting the local candidate.
According to people aware of the developments, Shah who is overseeing the campaign for the Delhi assembly polls, was peeved over reports of friction in the party unit; where some of the corporators had pulled back from campaigning for the BJP candidates.
“There were a few complaints that some of the corporators have pulled back from campaigning due to vested interests; some were upset for not getting tickets,” said a functionary aware of the details.
The BJP, which is pulling out all the stops to wrest Delhi from the Aam Aadmi Party, is ensuring there is no room for intra-party wrangling. According to a person aware of the details, corporators were warned there will be consequences for not following the party line.
Among the reasons for the BJP’s electoral losses in Maharashtra and Jharkhand was the friction and rebellion in the party ranks and the party leadership wants to ensure there is no recurrence of a fallout within the party in Delhi. The BJP, which won the municipal elections for three terms, has been out of power in Delhi since 1998.
“Shah himself is overseeing the campaign details and has been canvassing extensively, trying to cover every constituency in the poll-bound state. Even though he is now a campaigner and not a strategist, It was his idea to ask MPs to spend time in JJ clusters and reach out to people,” said the functionary quoted above.
