WHY THE BJP LOST IN DELHI

Politics, like cricket, is a game of great ironies. But there is no greater irony than Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party sweeping the Delhi assembly election on a campaign based on development, against a party that boasts a leader, a prime minister once synonymous in the public imagination with the word vikas. But there seemed to be no end to the BJP’s blunders in this campaign. Not replacing Delhi BJP president and actor Manoj Tiwari—a clear non-starter even among the city’s Poorvanchali voters (whose votes he was brought in to tap)—with a grassroots party leader like Union minister Harshvardhan, was one. Allowing the campaign to turn into a battle between Kejriwal and the entire BJP leadership