Budget: Low on confidence Delhi BJP gets a booster dose

For the BJP unit in Delhi which is caught in a crisis of confidence, the Union Budget has provided the much required booster shot. Elated by the huge allocation for civic amenities, including water and power, it is chalking out plans to launch a public relations offensive on its political rivals. The budget, which sets aside Rs 500 crore for water and Rs 200 crore for power in Delhi, has set it on course for the assembly elections which is due in a few months. According to sources in the BJP, the party did not have a talking point for its campaign in Delhi. Although it won handsomely in all seven seats in the state in the parliamentary polls some weeks ago, it felt it did not have enough ammunition to take on the Aam Aadmi Party. The latter lost all the seats it contested, but still managed to garner close to 33 percent of votes. Despite its poor track record in government, the party retained its core vote base. To make matters worse for the BJP, it did not have a leader to head the party till a couple of days ago. Besides making an assurance that the central government would speed up work on Renuka Dam in Himachal, which would be crucial for Delhi’s water supply, the budget also earmarks Rs 3,500 crore for the construction of the third phase of the Delhi Metro. “It is a people’s budget. We will go to the electorate making that claim. We are also going to highlight the poor performance of the 49-day AAP government,” says a veteran BJP MLA. “We are going to project that development in Delhi is possible without populist schemes,” he adds. [caption id=“attachment_1615219” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Reuters[/caption] The opposition is, however, is not impressed. The AAP, which has recently decided to focus solely on Delhi, has called the budget a ‘damp squib’. AAP, in a statement following the budget, has said that the budget is a let down as the country was looking forward to some concrete long term plan to curb price rise and generating jobs. A statement from the party says,“The budget does not spell out the government’s plan to deal with the impending drought when the agriculture sector is facing acute stagnation.” The Congress has also lashed out at the budget. Former Congress minister Ajay Maken took a jibe at the ‘100 crore’ budget. He tweeted that while each kilometre of the Delhi metro construction cost Rs 204 crore, putting aside Rs 100 crore for the Lucknow metro is a joke. “It’s a complete anti people budget. Rs 100 crore for everything. That’s laughable. Is it some kind of tokenism?” Lashed out Mukesh Sharma, a spokesperson of Delhi congress. However, the BJP does not look deterred by such criticism. The budget has provided it the opportunity to find momentum and direction for its campaign.