A week after it swept the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections, the BJP celebrated its win at a 'Vijay Parv' or victory day, with its national president Amit Shah addressing the newly-elected councilors on Tuesday.
Speaking at the Civic Centre, Mr. Shah said the party's victory in the municipal polls was an answer to critics who felt that "the Modi rath [wagon]" would stop in Delhi. People had rejected AAP leader and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's politics of negativity, he asserted.
"It's the enthusiasm of the worker at the smallest level in the party and public approval of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's policies that made us win," Mr. Shah told 181 party councillors, many of whom are first-timers.
"The numbers with which we have won mean that the people have opted for politics of development instead of politics of negativity; for those who perform, instead of those who seek excuses for not being able to perform," he said.
Referring to the party's decision to not field sitting councillors - which senior leaders have hailed as the sole reason that helped it combat anti-incumbency and allegations of corruption over the last 10 years it headed the civic bodies - Mr. Shah said a win despite such a rider was only possible for the BJP.
"That old party hands have supported and helped further the appeal of new faces is only possible in the BJP," he further said.
Terming it the beginning of a journey instead of the destination, Mr. Shah exhorted the newly-elected councillors to work hard and deliver on Mr. Modi's agenda of development.
"This win is not our destination but the foundation on which the party will win the Delhi Assembly elections; it is on the basis of work done by you [the elected councillors] that the party's next win will come about," he added.
