Five mistakes of Kiran Bedi's life: Why BJP was routed in Delhi

Kiran Bedi’s political career seems to have ended even before it could take off. Perhaps it won’t make much of a difference to her – she can dissociate herself from politics and get on with social work. What intrigues many though is how everything could go against her. She is certainly no lightweight when it comes to public life. She has a strong brand value, is the country’s first woman IPS officer, she is a Magsaysay award winner and was  one of the leading figures in the Anna Hazare movement. So what went wrong? Leadership requires a different set of skills. Her achievements can only be a value addition to her leadership skills, it’s never the other way round, say political analysts. They point out to five mistakes that saw her presiding over the shameful rout of the BJP in the assembly polls. Failure to connect: According to political analysts, Bedi’s communication and body language during her rallies reeked of arrogance. Her comment on Kejriwal not being invited on Republic Day “I think he (Kejriwal) is playing sob sob. I think he must grow up” drew a lot of criticism in the media and later became counter-productive for the party. By taking a U-turn on her earlier statements (on Twitter in 2012 & 2013) against Narendra Modi, and then appreciating him after joining the BJP, dented her credibility. “This is nothing but opportunism and one can’t fool voters now-a-days. People understand everything,” said an analyst. [caption id=“attachment_2090507” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Bedi’s communication and body language during her rallies reeked of arrogance. PTI[/caption] According to a party insider, “No one openly opposed her as it was the decision of the PM to project her as a CM candidate, but there was an undercurrent of rebellion in the party. She failed to connect both with the party cadre and the masses.” Even after the massive electoral drubbing, Bedi courted controversy by telling the media on Tuesday, “It was not my loss…it was BJP’s defeat.” Poor man-management skills: In contrast to the Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal, Bedi failed to give a positive leadership to the Delhi BJP. Immediately after joining the party, she called a couple of MPs for tea to her place. She reportedly didn’t wait for the Union minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, who was 10 minutes late to reach her residence. “Instead of calling the senior party leaders, she should have gone to them and sought their support. She had already considered herself as Delhi CM and this became apparent during her campaigns. She failed to provide a positive leadership to the party like Modi ji did during Lok Sabha polls,” remarked a senior BJP member on anonymity. A touch of conceit: According to the voters who attended her rallies, these were “negative and full of conceit”. “Kejriwal directly spoke on our problems, and what the AAP would do if they came to power. Unlike her, there was no acrimony in his speech. Bedi sounded more like a cop than a would-be CM,” remarked Syed Kaiser of Ambedkar Nagar. Bedi had thought that slamming Kejriwal would help her in wooing voters, but it didn’t happen. “I have 40 years of administrative experience and that other man (Kejriwal) who is spreading lies has just five years of experience. He is ‘bhagoda’ and will run away again," she had said while campaigning in Kirari constituency of North-West Delhi. She described Kejriwal’s influence as “highly toxic and negative”. On the contrary, Kejriwal and team tactically avoided calling names in general. Even within the party, members feel that by campaigning in other constituencies, Bedi minimized the winning possibility of the BJP. “She should have confined to her own constituency. Her initial speeches caused immense damage to the BJP and the poll result confirmed it. During poll rallies, she used to move as a commander rather than a team leader,” a state BJP volunteer remarked. I, me, myself: Right from the party men to the voters, people across the constituencies felt that she gave immense importance to ‘self’ and almost on every occasion, she spoke about her own achievements. Associating herself with the BJP’s development agenda, she said, “My name is now Vikas Bedi”. While addressing a rally at Ambedkar Nagar in South Delhi, she said, “If I become the chief minister and any policemen ask for money, you should ask them that when…my CM has never asked for money, so how could you demand money?" “It’s like playing your own trumpet. In her communication she tried to give a message that she was an epitome of honesty and integrity. This back-fired,” added Kaisar. Bad timing: Bedi was brought into the party’s fold hardly three weeks before the Delhi polls. Immediately after joining the party, her naming as the CM candidate, didn’t go down well with the leaders and the members of Delhi BJP; especially by those who had been working for the party for decades. To make her a winning candidate, she was made to contest from the safe assembly seat of Krishna Nagar, from where Union minister Dr Harsh Vardhan had been winning since 1993. “First, the locals couldn’t accept the party’s decision of replacing Dr Harsh Vardhan from this seat, who was also demoted in the Cabinet. Second, Kiran Bedi was an outsider and the voters wanted someone local. She failed to connect with the locals and ultimately she lost this battle,” said Virender Raheja, a local resident. Senior journalist and columnist Vir Sanghvi had tweeted: “Kiran Bedi really is her own worst enemy. Does making her CM candidate still seem like a masterstroke? The Delhi poll result gave the answer.