Days after the party faced a defeat in the civic polls, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s Delhi unit president Adesh Gupta tendered his resignation from the post. City unit vice-president Virendra Sachdeva has been made acting president by the BJP high-command.
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“The party did not get the expected results in the Delhi MCD elections, taking moral responsibility for the defeat, I have resigned from the post of Delhi BJP President,” Mr. Gupta said, speaking to news agency ANI.
“Adesh Gupta’s resignation from the post of Delhi State president is accepted on the directions of Bharatiya Janata Party national president, Jagat Prakash Nadda,” party national general secretary Arun Singh said in a letter, making the announcement of Mr. Sachdeva’s appointment.
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Mr. Gupta had come under heavy fire from various factions of the Delhi unit after the BJP’s 15-year rule at the city’s civic corporations (now unified) was ended by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the poll results declared last week on Wednesday.
The Delhi unit of the BJP has held two meetings of party functionaries since the election results, one on Wednesday and one on Saturday. Party insiders told The Hindu that various leaders had pointed fingers at Mr. Gupta and demanded a major overhaul in the party leadership and functioning.
“There had been a feeling of negativity against him (Mr. Gupta) for a while, which came to the fore in the meeting (on Wednesday),” said a senior leader who was present at the meeting.
Mr. Gupta had also received a setback in the polls results as the party lost all four wards — West Patel Nagar, East Patel Nagar, Ranjeet Nagar and Baljeet Nagar — in his home turf, Patel Nagar. The party had swept these wards in 2017, with Mr. Gupta himself having been elected councillor from West Patel Nagar.
According to a party insider, Mr. Gupta had kept the campaigning and management in his own hands and local leaders in Patel Nagar “had been sidelined”.