NEW DELHI: In a local election that went national, BJP's sweep of Delhi's municipal polls emphatically underlines the party's political domination and Prime Minister Narendra Modi 's popular appeal with voters across the country and could spark moves to stitch opposition unity.The result, with Aam Admi Party and Congress jockeying for second spot, gives BJP the satisfaction of settling scores with Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal for the humiliating drubbing it received in the 2015 assembly poll and the concerted manner in which the leader has attacked the PM since then.The implications of the election are far wider than a decision on who will fix the city's drains. For a party that was once seen as an alternative model in politics and a leader who could capture the popular imagination, AAP's slide on its home turf is nothing short of a May Day call for the outfit. BJP held onto its middle class support but seems to have made some inroads, aided by demonetisation, in AAP “constituencies“ like unauthorised colonies and slums where Congress seems to have revived its fortunes too.The big gamble of changing almost all sitting councillors along with a decision to sideline the older guard in the city by installing north east Delhi MP and popular Bhojpuri star Manoj Tiwari as the Delhi party chief paid off handsomely. BJP president Amit Shah, who along with the PM, was instrumental in the crucial decision to junk all serving councillors, some of them known favourites of state and central leaders, was the game changer that wiped out a two-term incumbency that had delivered very average performance.Modi and the BJP chief had advocated a similar shock therapy for BJP candidates in Punjab but the plan did not go through due to concerns that it was too risky a gambit to attempt. With the UP win boosting confidence and adrenalin running high, Shah decided to brook no protest even though some BJP councillors had a good record to run on.BJP's continued rise can quicken opposition talks for a presidential candidate with Sonia Gandhi meeting Left leaders Sitaram Yechury and D Raja and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar Regional parties facing BJP might be prompted to look at joining hands in an alliance though there remain strong contradictions within them. But with Congress on the decline, anti-Congressism could weaken.BJP's victory in wards comprising slum clusters, below poverty line and irregular colonies was enabled by the demonetisation which propelled Modi and BJP into the minds of the city's poor. The gambit to admit Congress leaders like Arvinder Lovely worked to demoralise the party that looked to be gaining.After UP polls, the Delhi outcome is yet another evidence that “note ban“ has added new adherents from among con stituents of its rivals without loss of BJP's own voter base.The important win in Delhi cements BJP's string of wins in urban civic elections in several states and will encourage efforts to showcase itself as the party of the poor as Congress did under Indira Gandhi. During the third anniversary of the Modi government, there may be attempt to amplify the message further.BJP has become the party of choice for voters and politicians and Shah has pragmatically opened the doors for cross overs from Congress and other parties. The decimation of AAP should shrink the possibility of Kejriwal cutting into anti-BJP votes which have so far been cornered by Congress.The failure to make a significant mark even though its vote went up compounds Congress's problems not the least because its face Ajay Maken enjoyed the “most-favoured person“ status under Rahul Gandhi and this enabled him to ride roughshod over protests from peers and seniors in Delhi politics -from Sheila Dikshit to A K Walia to Arvinder Lovely who joined BJP.The question of who should lead Congress as Sonia fades, will acquire a sharp focus though whether the veterans reeling under neglect from Rahul, given the unquestioning dependence on the family , will articulate fear of irrelevance agitating them, remains a big question. The outcome gives rise to serious questions about AAP's future, if Kejriwal continues to blame the defeat on AVMS and does not get down to diagnose the cause for the desertion of voters.