Delhi BJP faces overhaul after drubbing in MCD polls

An organisational overhaul in Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party is afoot in the light of the party's defeat in the MCD election, the party leaders said on Thursday.

The clamour for change was evident even as the party trailed behind the AAP during counting of MCD election votes on Wednesday. The party lost the polls to the AAP, which bagged 134 of the 250 wards.

Even in a meeting on the result day, state president Adesh Gupta had said that the post of president needed to be respected because the post did not just represent the person but the "prestige and authority of the organisation." 

He also urged the party workers to not give credence to any conspiracy gossip floating around to upstage him, said a senior leader present in the meeting.

No immediate reaction was available from Gupta on the issue.

Party leaders said notwithstanding the BJP's underwhelming performance in the polls, Gupta's term was anyway likely to end later this month.

There is also the need to change the present general secretary (organisation) Siddharthan who has been holding the post in Delhi BJP for over seven years, a party leader said.

"The performance of the party during the tenure of both Siddharthan and Gupta has not been very good," said a senior party office-bearer in Delhi BJP.

Siddharthan had taken charge as Delhi BJP general secretary (organisation) in July 2015.

In his tenure, the Delhi BJP won the civic body polls in 2017 and all seven Lok Sabha seats in 2019.

However, in recent years, the party lost Delhi assembly elections in 2020, bypolls for municipal wards in 2021, Rajendra Nagar assembly bypolls, and MCD elections this month.

Under Gupta, who had taken charge as Delhi BJP president in June 2020, the party failed to win any election.

The only saving grace for him is that despite the anti-incumbency and negative exit poll results, the party put up a spirited fight and managed to win 104 wards in the MCD polls, party leaders said.

According to the Delhi BJP functionaries, the organisational changes in Delhi BJP are in works, since the post of state president has a term of three years which is nearing its end.

The organisational elections of national BJP are scheduled to be complete before 2023.

As per party constitution, organisational restructuring should be done in 50 per cent of the state units ahead of changes in national organisation, they added.