NEW DELHI: A growing disenchantment with the state leadership and ‘poor planning’ for the upcoming municipal elections are causing concern among workers and senior functionaries of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Delhi.
Two recent incidents a ‘revolt’ by two of its spokesperson against the top brass and exit of a prominent councilor from northeast Delhi have triggered fresh rounds of frenetic discussion in the party circles on possible departure of prominent leaders including incumbent and former municipal councillors before the elections scheduled early next year.
A couple of senior Delhi BJP leaders and former office bearers have suggested that nearly 70 colleagues including councillors, willing to switch over, are in touch with the rivals particularly the Aam Aadmi Party.
“About 70 disgruntled party members are deliberating and holding meetings for quite some time. Most of them are from South Delhi. We all knew this but haven’t learnt from recent incidents. No senior leader, having responsibility of strengthening the organisation, is inclined to speak with the workers or leaders who have issues or complaints. The councillor Rajkumar Ballan from Brahmapuri ward joined AAP but no discussion or soul-searching took place,” said a former officer bearer of BJP’s local unit.
The two spokespersons Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga and Harish Khurana openly conveyed displeasure over their continuous neglect. Bagga, who has a noted social media presence, removed BJP’s reference from his Twitter bio and Khurana left most WhatsApp groups of the party.
Another senior party functionary said that municipal elections were never on the agenda of the core group meetings till recently. “It was like surrender before the elections. Focus was apparently on 2024 and 2025 polls,” he said.
Survey predicts only 40 wards for BJP
Some BJP leaders are anxious about possible poor performance of the party in the upcoming MCD elections after an internal survey report gave only 40 seats to the BJP.
The party had won 180 wards in 2017 and presently has a comfortable majority in three civic bodies.
Delhi BJP chief Adesh Kumar Gupta was unavailable for the comment.
However, Harshdeep Malhotra, general secretary of Delhi BJP, said that preparations are already underway and a team of 15-22 grassroot level workers are being finalised to reach out to every household.
“The party has a system to address issues and grudges of the workers or members. Discussions are held and issues are resolved. Several AAP workers are also contacting us to join BJP,” he said.