Ahead of 2019 general elections, no signs of a united opposition in Delhi yet
NEW DELHI: At a time when the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee and the ruling Aam Aadmi Party are busy with attacks and counter attacks, many citizens of Delhi believe that to stop the BJP juggernaut in the Capital, there should be a united opposition.
However, on a press conference on Saturday, Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken had ruled out speculations of a coalition between the Congress and AAP in the Capital ahead of the 2019 general elections.
To this, Arvind Kejriwal's advisor Nagendar Sharma had tweeted, "Kairana result is a clear indicator that Non-BJP parties cannot & will not be led by Congress. This old party hobnobs with BJP & treats other parties with disdain It's Delhi Unit is a virtual BJP front."
From the 2015 Assembly election to last year's municipal polls, BJP's vote share of the BJP in Delhi has been on the rise because of a divided opposition.
As was seen in 2014, BJP is confident of winning all of Delhi's seven Lok Sabha seats in 2019 as well.
In the 2014 general elections in Delhi, the BJP got 46.40 per cent votes, the AAP got 32.90 and while Congress got a mere 15.10 percent.
The total vote percentage of these two major opposition parties was around 48 per cent, nearly two percent higher than that of BJP.
In the 2017 MCD election, BJP polled in 37 per cent of votes, AAP got 26 per cent votes and Congress' vote share was 21 per cent.
Once against, the combined vote share of AAP and Congress was 47 per cent, 10 per cent higher than that of BJP.
"There is a feeling that a united opposition could do well. In Uttar Pradesh, it has worked well. In Delhi too, I think that the opposition unity is must to stop BJP," said Sourav Khemka, a political science student from Delhi University.
Adding to his sentiments was Monica Sharma, a Delhi-based advertising professional, who said that BJP's vote share in Delhi has been low for years, but the opposition is very divided.
"In MCD too, the BJP has not done any good job and I think there is a clear anti-incumbency factor in Delhi," she said.
An AAP leader, who wished to remain anonymous, told Millennium Post, "Both Congress and BJP are corrupt parties and our fight has been against both. But general issue is based on the bigger issues where the BJP is our prime target."