Maharashtra CM, Sharad Pawar hail AAP win in Delhi polls

Mumbai: Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar Tuesday hailed the victory of the Aam Aadmi Party in the Delhi Assembly elections. While Mr Thackeray said that “Jan Ki Baat” won over “Mann ki Baat” in Delhi, Mr Pawar said that he was not at all surprised by the drubbing the BJP got.

In an apparent reference to the BJP, Mr Thackeray said that the BJP considers itself as desh premi (patriotic) and those who oppose it as desh drohi (anti-national). However, the people of Delhi have destroyed this illusion.

“I congratulate Arvind Kejriwal for his party's victory in the Delhi Assembly elections. The people of Delhi have shown the path that Jan ki Baat will prevail over Mann ki Baat. The so-called nationalist government in Delhi (Centre), in spite of putting in all its efforts, failed to stand before the broom (the symbol of AAP). The strong party (BJP) fielded all its top guns and leaders in the Delhi Assembly elections. Moreover, they also compared Mr Kejriwal to a terrorist. With an intention to divert the attention of voters, they ignored local issues and raised international issues. Despite this, they failed to defeat Mr Kejriwal. The people of Delhi backed a genuine person who carries out development works. The people reposed their faith in democracy. We are patriotic and those who are opposing and others are desh drohi (anti-national). This illusion has been smashed by the people of Delhi,” Mr Thackeray said in a statement in Marathi.

In his greetings to Mr Kejriwal, the Maharashtra chief minister said, “I, on behalf of people of Maharashtra and the Shiv Sena, congratulate the people of Delhi and Mr Kejriwal. I also wish him for his future endeavours.”

Meanwhile, NCP chief and former Union minister Sharad Pawar said that the BJP “tried to polarise” votes, but the people of the national capital rejected it.

Speaking with reporters in Pune, the NCP chief said, “The Delhi poll results indicate winds of change blowing in the country. The results are not surprising to me.”

Mr Pawar said that the BJP, as usual, played the communal card to polarise votes, but failed. The Delhi Assembly poll contest was only between the Aam Aadmi Party and BJP hence one might claim that the saffron party's vote share is soaring.

The veteran politician said that all regional parties need to come together to keep the BJP out of power. "Today's result is not limited to Delhi alone as people from various states live in the national capital. There is an environment of change in their own state and that is what they have expressed in Delhi," he said.