Delhi BJP leaders give feedback on AAP govt's 'freebies' to party in-charges for Assembly polls

BJP in-charges for the Delhi Assembly polls, including Union minister Prakash Javadekar, met the party's district-level leaders on Thursday, during which concerns were expressed over the impact of the "freebies" announced by the AAP government in the national capital months before the election.

The back-to-back meetings of the West and Najafgarh district-level office-bearers of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were also attended by Union ministers Hardeep Singh Puri and Nityanand Rai.

It was suggested by some office-bearers that the party should announce its candidates for the polls early so that they get enough time to campaign. Another suggestion was that party tickets should not be given to outsiders in any constituency.

Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari was also present at the meetings for some time.

"The opinion was divided over the impact of the (Arvind) Kejriwal government's freebies, including free water and power and travel for women in buses and metro," a leader, who attended the meetings, said.

It was suggested by some office-bearers of the saffron party that the schemes announced recently by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo and Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal needed to be "carefully" tackled.

Some others, however, asserted that the announcements would not have much effect on voters as they had seen the "true colour" of Kejriwal, another leader from Najafgarh district said.

Suggestions were offered to run a campaign to raise awareness on the schemes of the Modi government at the Centre such as cooking gas connections to poor households in the city to counter the Kejriwal government's "freebies", he said.

"Another suggestion was that the party should do something so that the process of regularisation of unauthorised colonies was speeded up by the BJP-ruled Centre," some other participants of the meetings stated.

The three Union ministers also put forward certain suggestions and answered the queries of the district-level leaders.

"The district office-bearers were advised by Javadekar not to speak on the issue of regularisation of unauthorised colonies without a proper brief from the party," they said.

Many office-bearers also complained against the BJP-ruled municipal corporations in the city, saying their "poor work" might not help the party in the Assembly polls.

There are 14 district units of the Delhi BJP. The meetings of Karol Bagh and New Delhi districts will be held on Friday, a party leader said.