Published 19:58 IST, February 11th 2020
Chidambaram dubs Delhi as 'mini India'; says 'BJP can be defeated in every state'
Senior Congress leader Chidambaram on Tuesday said that the Delhi vote is a 'booster for confidence of Opposition' that the BJP can be defeated in any state.
P. Chidambaram, the former Finance Minister dubbed Delhi as a 'mini India' over AAP's landslide victory in the Delhi Assembly elections for the third consecutive term. In addition, the senior Congress leader said that the Delhi vote is a 'booster for confidence of Opposition' that the BJP can be defeated in any state of the country.
Calling Delhi vote close to an 'all India vote', Chidambaram said, "Remember, when Delhi voted, millions of Malayalees, Tamils, Telugus, Bengalis, Gujaratis and people who came from other states of India voted." "If the voters represent the views of the states they came from, the Delhi vote is a booster for the confidence of the Opposition that the BJP can be defeated in every state. The Delhi vote is close to an All India vote than to a state-specific vote. Because Delhi is a mini India," he added.
According to current trends in the Delhi Assembly polls, the Congress is yet to open its account with zero seats, meanwhile AAP is leading on 62 seats followed by the BJP on 8 seats. Even as the Congress party failed to win a single seat in the Delhi Assembly polls, senior party leader Jyotiraditya Scindia on Tuesday congratulated AAP on its victory. Amid vote counting for the Delhi Assembly polls, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath on Tuesday afternoon stated that the Congress party was aware of their loss in the national capital. Admitting the party's loss, the Congress leader questioned the 'big claims' made by the BJP.
Congress' Delhi performance
Congress' performance touched a record low in the Delhi Assembly election as the party bagged less than 5% of the total votes polled and 63 of its candidates lost their deposits. The 2020 Delhi Assembly polls mark further decline for the Congress party that governed the state for three consecutive terms under he leadership of the late Sheila Dikshit since 1998. In the 2013 election, its tally fell from 43 to just 8 seats as BJP emerged as the single-largest party.
However, Harsh Vardhan refused to form the government as BJP did not have a clear majority in the 70-member House. Thereafter, there was a tectonic shift in politics as Congress agreed to extend outside support to AAP that had won only 28 seats. However, this arrangement did not sustain for a long time as Kejriwal resigned in February 2014. Since then, Congress has been unable to win a seat in either the Lok Sabha or the Assembly elections, especially after a power vaccum left by Dikshit in the state.
(With PTI inputs)
Updated 19:58 IST, February 11th 2020