The BJP’s emphatic victory in Delhi has not just re-emphasised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s electoral appeal and restored some of the sheen lost in the general election, it has rid him of a decade-old irritant that mocked him from right under his nose.

Since Modi assumed power at the Centre in 2014, Arvind Kejriwal had been a thorn
in his flesh in the national capital, positioning himself as an alternative and spreading his wings with varying success from Punjab to the Prime Minister’s home state of Gujarat.

Modi and his party on Saturday celebrated puncturing the Aam Aadmi Party’s Delhi governance model, from which Kejriwal drew his strength to expand his influence.

“I bow to my dear sisters and brothers of Delhi for this resounding and historic mandate to @BJP4India,” Modi posted on X. “We are humbled and honoured to receive these blessings.”

He gave a “guarantee” to “leave no stone unturned in developing Delhi”.

Buoyed by the back-to-back poll victories in Haryana and Maharashtra following the setback in the general election, Modi had led the BJP campaign in Delhi.

At rally after rally, he had implored the voters to give “Modi one chance” for “sewa” (service), promising to spend all his energy in fulfilling their dreams. Positioning himself in direct confrontation with Kejriwal was a risk, but Modi had to take it in the absence of a credible local BJP face to promote.

As the poll results projected a big BJP victory, party leaders rushed to hand the entire credit to Modi.

“Dilli ke Dil me Modi (Modi in the heart of Delhi),” home minister Amit Shah, the chief strategist, posted on X.

Kejriwal had not just taunted the Prime Minister right at the heart of the national capital, he had taken Modi on from Varanasi in 2014.

Modi and his managers were alarmed when the AAP polled 13 per cent of the
votes in Gujarat in 2022 and won 5 Assembly seats. It led the BJP leadership to decide
to go all out to demolish the “Kejriwal model” before it
became too big a threat, sources said.

V.K. Saxena, a trusted point man from Modi’s home state, was installed as Delhi lieutenant governor to hound Kejriwal. The alleged corruption in Delhi’s excise policy handed the BJP a chance to hoist Kejriwal, the anti-corruption crusader, by his own petard.

The BJP also used Kejriwal’s lavish remodelling of his official bungalow to target his image as the “common man”.

By felling Kejriwal, the BJP has defeated an idea that could have posed a challenge in the future, party leaders said.

Addressing a victory rally at the BJP headquarters, Modi thanked Delhi’s voters for “short-circuiting the politics of short-cut” and taunted the Congress for again drawing a blank.

Hitting out at Kejriwal without naming him, Modi said those who had promised “alternative politics” and were born out of an anti-corruption movement had themselves turned “blatantly corrupt”.

Modi said that Delhi’s voters had also delivered a “kada sandesh” (strong message) to the Congress.

He accused the Congress of invoking caste to steal the vote bases of its allies and claimed the “INDI Alliance” members had understood this. He said that in his understanding, “all the INDI Alliance parties had campaigned against the Congress in Delhi”.