‘BJP infighting will keep voters away’

Pointing to the “infighting” within the Delhi BJP, three Congress Ministers on Tuesday said the people of the city will never support a party that keeps changing its leaders before the elections.

“The good news is that the BJP, after much deliberation, settled on a chief ministerial candidate. We congratulate them,” said Urban Development Minister Arvinder Singh. “In eight months, they [BJP] decided that he [Vijay Goel] was not cut out for the job. They have changed two ‘CM candidates’ even before the elections,” he added.

Mr. Singh was addressing a press conference along with his Cabinet colleagues, Power Minister Haroon Yusuf and PWD Minister Raj Kumar Chauhan.

“A few weeks ago, we spoke about surveys done by the party. We are happy to note that even the BJP leadership did not take their own survey seriously enough and thought it was ‘fake’ and ‘fictitious’,” said Mr. Singh. “They left behind the person [Vijay Goel] who had 20 per cent popularity and named the person [Dr. Harsh Vardhan] who had only 4 per cent popularity,” he said.

Mr. Yusuf said that by changing leaders frequently the BJP had reminded people of its regime, when three Chief Ministers were changed in five years. “It is an indication that in case the party comes to power it would change at least two Chief Ministers in one year,” he said.

Mr. Chauhan said the BJP was in the habit of taking credit for small achievements.

“They constructed a flyover during 1967 to 1971, for which Prof. V.K. Malhotra has been claiming credit even after 43 years. They constructed only one flyover, whereas we turned Delhi into a city of flyovers,” he said.