Aam Aadmi Party celebrates, Congress licks wounds, BJP introspects

Waving brooms -- the Aam Aadmi Party’s election symbol -- and placards, jubilant supporters of the party on Sunday converged outside its office in large numbers after its impressive performance in the Delhi assembly election.

The activists chanted Vande Mataram and danced to the beating of drums outside the premises while police beefed up security.

AAP senior leader Kumar Vishwas told supporters, who were awaiting the final results, that the party has given a befitting reply to Sheila Dikshit and all others who had raised doubts about it.

Supporters were also seen applying colour on each other as celebrations started soon after the trends showed that the party was leading in over 20 seats.

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Meanwhile, Congress general secretary in charge of its Delhi unit, Shakeel Ahmad, admitted that the party was shocked at the results of the assembly elections, but said the Aam Aadmi Party has eaten into the Congress' votes, due to which the Bharatiya Janata Party could secure a few more seats.

"It is shocking for us also, and we were not expecting this. Once the results come out, we will analyse what went wrong. But looking at the results, the votes secured by AAP in places it could not win, it has cut the Congress’s votes, due to which the BJP got a few more seats. They have cut Congress’s votes more as compared to the BJP," he said.

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He denied that the 'Narendra Modi factor' had influenced the voters, claiming that the vote percentage of the saffron outfit would have gone up if the Modi factor had really kicked in.

"I don't think the Modi factor played in. I think the vote percentage of BJP will be less. Had there been a considerable influence of Narendra Modi, the vote percentage would have gone up. Because the AAP has cut our seats, there will be an increase in the number of seats of the BJP," he added.

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The BJP said the rise of the AAP in Delhi is a matter of concern for it as much as for the Congress and maintained that it could have won a clear majority had it not been a three-cornered fight.

BJP General Secretary Rajiv Pratap Rudy said his party could have done much better if it had taken certain timely steps.

"In Delhi, space has been given to a local outfit -- Aam Aadmi Party. There could be other reasons. The BJP failed to position a chief ministerial candidate at the right time. The national channels also projected that national parties are unable to deliver. But the BJP should be able to form the government," he said.

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Rudy conceded that rise of AAP is a matter of concern for both the BJP and the Congress.

"Regional manifesto is setting the national agenda. This is what happened in Delhi. A great churning is taking place. AAP votes should actually have come to the BJP. Then it would have been a landslide victory for the BJP," he said.

Deputy leader of BJP in Rajya Sabha Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the AAP has put up an impressive performance in Delhi but had it not been in the fray, the saffron party would have done better.

He was confident of the BJP achieving a clear majority in Delhi.

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