Published 13:41 IST, February 11th 2020
Gautam Gambhir eats humble pie; congratulates Kejriwal & adds 'don't make Delhi helpless'
Speaking about the party's defeat, BJP MP Gautam Gambhir on Tuesday said that the party accepts the people's mandate and he congratulated Arvind Kejriwal
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is leading in Delhi’s state election results, racing ahead of BJP to return to power in the national capital. Speaking about the party's near certain defeat, BJP MP from East Delhi Gautam Gambhir who is one of Kejriwal's fiercest critics on Tuesday said that the party accepts the people's mandate, going on to congratulate the AAP chief and the people of Delhi.
'I hope there will be development in Delhi'
Speaking to news agency ANI, Gambhir said, 'We accept the results and we should accept it. I congratulate Arvind Kejriwal and I congratulate people of Delhi. All I can say is we put in our maximum efforts in every way and maybe we could not convince the people. Aam Aadmi Party will form the government again and Kejriwal will become the CM, I hope there will be development in Delhi."
When questioned about where the BJP went wrong in the elections, Gambhir said, "When the party will sit and discuss these things, then only we will come to know. Speaking in front of the media about where we made mistakes will not be correct now. The only thing I can say that is we could not convince the people in a manner we should have or maybe they were not convinced. We tried our best, it's not like we did not do anything." He added that the BJP has to work a lot and he did not want to talk about other parties.
'Make Delhi capable and not helpless'
"Five years is a long time, we will try to connect with people on the ground to convince them. Today is not the time I speak about the negative things about the party. Before elections, they made metro rides free, electricity, water and other things free by which the people got convinced and I hope that he continues with these things and it was not just done for elections. The BJP wants to make Delhi capable and not helpless and I hope Kejriwal agrees with this and does not make Delhi helpless," Gambhir said.
As per the latest Election Commission trends, Kejriwal has a comfortable lead in the New Delhi seat by over 4000 votes whereas his deputy Manish Sisodia is facing a tough fight in Patparganj. The Congress has failed to open an account yet again with all its heavyweights, including Alka Lamba and Arvinder Singh Lovely trailing.
Updated 13:41 IST, February 11th 2020