In the backdrop of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s shocking defeat in the Delhi Assembly elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday held deliberations with senior Cabinet colleagues.
Immediately after a meeting of the Union Cabinet, the Prime Minister had a nearly two-hour long discussion with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Chemical and Fertilisers Minister Ananth Kumar, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu and Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Thawar Chand Gehlot. There is no official word on what transpired during the meeting.
The BJP’s defeat comes nearly a fortnight before the Budget Session commences on February 23.
Halting the Modi juggernaut in its tracks, the Aam Aadmi Party on Tuesday scored a landslide victory in the Delhi Assembly elections by winning 67 of the 70 seats, leaving the BJP with just three and completely decimating the Congress.
In an election that was billed as a referendum on the Prime Minister, the AAP tornado threw veterans from both the BJP and Congress into the electoral dustbin in their traditional bastions.
BJP leaders accepted the defeat as a “setback”, but dismissed suggestions that it was against the Modi government’s performance.
Speaking separately before the Cabinet meeting, Water Resources Minister Uma Bharati tried to put up a brave face and downplayed the BJP debacle saying that expecting the BJP to win every election in the country is an expression of a “feudal mindset”.
“In democracy, this [losing] happens. This is feudal mentality if we think that everywhere we have to win. This is feudal mindset. In democratic mindset, this happens. Anybody can form government in any State. In democratic system, anyone can be defeated anywhere and one should accept it gracefully,” she said.
On what went wrong for the BJP in this election, she said “this is not the correct platform to discuss our shortcomings”.
Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said earlier: “We have lost badly. We accept our defeat with all humility. We will seriously look into the reasons. We probably feel we have faulted in gauging the mood of the people of Delhi. We will seriously think about it and take a comprehensive review of the reasons that led to this defeat.”
He said the Modi government treats everyone equally without any political discrimination and the same principle will apply in Delhi.
“We will work as a constructive opposition and oppose wherever required,” he added. — PTI
PM holds a nearly two-hour long discussion with Arun Jaitley, Rajnath Singh, Ananth Kumar, M. Venkaiah Naidu and Thawar Chand Gehlot
