Denying tickets to sitting councillors worked well for BJP

A decision to deny tickets to its sitting councillors proved a master stroke for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which swept the Delhi civic polls on Wednesday, for the third time in a row.

Delhi BJP President Manoj Tiwari took the risk of fielding fresh faces in the civic bodies polls despite facing stiff protest from party leaders.

Just before the April 23 polls Tiwari made it clear that the sitting councillors were being denied tickets over non-performance in the municipal corporations of Delhi (MCDs).

Tiwari told IANS that the decision was "not taken like a dictator" but was based on the performance of the councillors.

"It's not that they were involved in any corruption but their performance could have been better. Like, instead of one medical college (in the city) they should have tried to make five," he said.

"Instead of 216 schools, they should have built 500. So I found that the performance was not up to the mark. We decided to give a chance to new faces and bring a new batch of leaders in the party," he said.

Tiwari even faced rebellion in the party after the 'historical' decision but succeeded in pacifying most of them with the help of the central leadership.

He also said that the idea of bringing new faces came after viewing the working style of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party President Amit Shah.

"I was inspired by the working style of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party President Amit Shah," the BJP leader, who also represents the northeast parliamentary constituency of the city, said.

"I put my foot down and implemented the decision despite facing stiff resistance from the sitting councillors," he said.