BJP's bid to 'polarise' votes failed: Pawar on Delhi polls

As the Aam Aadmi Party was set for a resounding victory in the Delhi Assembly polls, NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Tuesday said the BJP "tried to polarise" votes, but people of the national capital rejected it.

Talking to reporters here, Pawar said the results of elections to the 70-member Delhi Assembly indicated that "winds of change" were blowing in the country.

He also said that regional parties need to come together to keep the BJP out of power.

"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 the saffron party's vote share is soaring," Pawar said.

"The Delhi poll results indicate winds of change blowing in the country. The results are not surprising to me," the former Union minister said.

"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," Pawar said.

He further said the "series of BJP's defeat" will not stop now.

"You have seen what happened in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. I don't think this series of BJP's defeat will stop now," he said.

Pawar also said there was a need for regional parties to come together to keep the BJP out of power.

Citing the example of Maharashtra, where the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress formed an alliance to come to power, he said, "Regional parties need to come together under a 'common minimum programme' and provide a stable government to keep the BJP out of power."