Defeated, but spirited: BJP thanks voters

As the Aam Aadmi Party wrested power from the Bharatiya Janata Party in the MCD elections, the latter took solace in putting up a spirited fight to win 104 wards.

Munesh Dedha, who won from ward number -193 Kondli with a big margin of 2451 votes, echoed her party’s spirit. “I will be there for the people, to work for people unlike those who just want fame and after winning an election forget about those who elected them,” she says.

A teacher at Swami Vivekananda School in Noida sector-35, she adds, “I’m a working class woman and I understand the plight of my people and would like to work for them.”

Munesh says she is grateful for being elected and praises her “kind” husband Anil Chaudhary. “I was extremely scared in the morning when the polls were coming out, but he helped me calm down and has been like this throughout the journey,” she says.

On her party’s defeat in the MCD polls, “The results have been disappointing but the support that we got from the common people has been great. We’ve fallen short of a few seats but for the next elections we’ll bounce back stronger.”

Discussing her future plans, Munesh says, “I aim to focus on my promises that I made to my people, the biggest one being the roads in my region, and it is something I look forward to addressing since already a lot of progress has been made toward the completion of the goals.”

“What I also want to ensure is that the credit-taking culture is eradicated. People who accomplish outstanding job should be rewarded, not those with a large reputation. They eat the credit for the job, which is identical to what happened with the waste pile in Ghazipur. Gautam Gambhir, a BJP MP, decreased Ghazipur’s rubbish mountain, yet no one gave him credit during the landfill fight,” she says.

BJP National Spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said even after 15 years, the party retained its vote share on the basis of its work.

The BJP’s northeast Delhi MP Manoj Tiwari, in a tweet in Hindi, thanked the people of Delhi and party workers for showing faith by giving so many seats to the party for the fourth consecutive time.