Delhi poll strategy: BJP’s five questions to Kejriwal display a poverty of campaign ideas

Even when the media was critical of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the wake of LK Advani’s rath yatra, Pramod Mahajan never let it make him lose his sleep. As a party strategist, he believed that the more media was critical, the higher the vote share his party would get. However, he worked out a crucial element: occupy the media space as much as possible, if only to rob rivals of their moments on nightly television news. [caption id=“attachment_2070625” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal was asked five questions by the BJP. PTI[/caption] Narendra Modi did much the same thing, getting wall-to-wall coverage by providing free television feeds to the channels, forcing the Congress to follow suit and making the smaller parties squirm in their inability to match that use of a rich resource. Media was the maker of Modi, and thus, the BJP’s winning chances too. The BJP seems to want to continue occupying TV screens, this time in Delhi’s elections, due on 7 February. The party is resorting to a high-octane campaign with Modi addressing as many as four rallies after the one we saw around the time the poll schedule was announced. However, the party has betrayed a sense of worry by resorting to a silly game of asking Arvind Kejriwal five questions, a la Ram Jethmalani, who fired a salvo of 20 questions a day on Bofors to Rajiv Gandhi in the mid-1980s. This new gameplan betrays a poverty of campaign ideas for most of the five questions have been, over a period of time, answered. Take this one: Why did Kejriwal form a government with Congress support? Because, the BJP, despite being the largest single party in the Delhi assembly, refused to take charge of Delhi, mocking Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party to show they can govern. They rose to the occasion. They took the Congress’ outside support, but opportunistically quit when the BJP and Congress seemed keen to block the introduction of the Jan Lokpal Bill. Whether this was just a ruse or a real response to the blockade of the bill, Kejriwal did quit. His supporters say he had no option, but even his detractors cannot deny that he wanted to run more than just the usual quid pro quo government. When the Delhi High Court asked the two, the BJP and the Congress, if they would form a government to allow President’s Rule to be lifted, they equivocated. The second question: Why didn’t he file a case against Sheila Dikshit? He had filed an FIR against the power distribution companies and even ordered an audit. But serious moves are made with care, and the lady may well have been the next, but she was shifted by the Congress to a gubernatorial post to ensure immunity. The BJP ought to be asking the Congress some questions but we shall let it pass for it is not a serious player at all this time too. Why did he avail of a private jet to travel from Jaipur to Delhi? The aircraft arranger, India Today had tweeted then “As a regular practice for Conclave” it “organises charters to suit the tight schedule of newsmakers.” BJP and Congress may well like to answer if the private aircraft of industrialists they use often are paid for at all. One never knows if they ever do. The AAP may have some explaining to do about the Z-plus security that BJP says Kejriwal “accepted” in UP. That implies it was provided, not on being sought but by the “Uttar Pradesh government and also security from the Delhi Police.” Here the concern was of the law enforcing agencies, which could have been discrete in doing their duty. Kejriwal could have insisted that they be taken off. And there remains the question of use of the official SUV. Yes, even if BJP asked three of the five questions pointlessly, it could keep the AAP busy answering. If it is savvy, the party would ignore and speak of other things, like who paid for the expensive Modi suit – touted to cost anything up to £10,000. Maybe also about the expensive watches he fancies and wears. The tango can well begin for other reasons as well. Kiran Bedi, the party’s face for Delhi, has already argued on NDTV India that she found everything right about BJP’s campaign funds. She did not explain convincingly why she avoided a debate with her rival chief ministerial candidate. Rajiv Pratap Rudy, who raised the five questions, it may be recalled, had demanded a faceoff between Modi and Rahul Gandhi before the Lok Sabha elections.