Most BJP leadsers blame the defeat on the asphyxiating control of the central leadership (read the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah duo) over the state unit prior to and during the elections.

Why did the BJP lose Delhi so badly? This question still troubles the party’s leaders and evokes angry reactions from them too. Most of them blame the defeat on the asphyxiating control of the central leadership (read the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah duo) over the state unit prior to and during the elections. They are seeking accountability from the decision-makers. For those not in the know, the BJP ended up with just three seats in the 70-member house despite winning all seven seats in the state with handsome margins in the general elections barely eight months ago.

Firstpost spoke to several leaders to find out how they are viewing the loss. Here’s what they had to say broadly:

Approach of the Shah-Modi duo

"The attitude of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Amit Shah (BJP president) and Delhi MPs, excluding Dr Harshvardhan, disappointed party workers. By deploying 120 MPs, including ministers, from across the country, Shah alienated local BJP leaders like VK Malhotra, Vijendra Gupta and Vijay Goel. This army of MPs was completely inaccessible. It caused serious lack of coordination," said senior leaders on the condition of anonymity.

One of them said, "In 2013, Union minister Nitin Gadkari was in charge of the Delhi elections and he took along all local leaders. But this time, the central leadership went to the extent of outsourcing the entire campaign to leaders from other states…Why did you replace Dr Harshvardhan with JP Nadda as Union Health minister when you did not have to project the former as the CM candidate?" he asked.

Another said, "We lost the election the day Modi’s rally proved to be a flop show at Ramlila ground and the prime minister launched a direct attack on the AAP and its convenor Arvind Kejriwal instead of talking issues. When a prime minister speaks, people have a lot of expectations from him."

Few others held responsible the party’s failure to check skyrocketing prices of necessary items, including vegetables, for the unexpected defeat. "Middle-middle and below middles classes and slum dwellers constitute a major chunk of voters here. They judge you on your performance on basic things that impacts their daily lives like the prices of necessary food, items, electricity, etc. not on your foreign policy. We bitter failed on this front and kept beating the trumpet of governance and development. This gave a message that that we a party of rich. It disconnected the poor and resulted in total rejection by the people," they added.

Dominance of team Arun Jaitley

A section of Delhi BJP leaders are of the view that the central leadership of the party have been taken over by Union minister Arun Jaitley and his team. This section, including those who have lost the election, feels that the party has forgotten its old hands, who are seasoned politicians, and kept them out of campaigning and other decision-making processes. The leaders also feel that the BJP has lost its tradition of “collective decision-making".

"It cannot be denied that Mr Jaitley considers the party his own sphere of operation. Ms Bedi, whom the he had dreamt to be a game changer, was imposed on us only because of him. We will not hesitate in raising voice against the central leadership when the poll debacle is reviewed by the RSS,” said a very senior leader of the Delhi unit of the BJP.

Several Delhi BJP leaders questioned the competence of Jaitley, who along with Ravi Shankar Prasad and Nirmala Sitharaman led some of the BJP’s pre-poll strategies such as 'Five Questions Everyday for Kejriwal'.

"Some didn’t win their Lok Sabha contests despite the Modi wave. Their efforts smacked of indifference and finally backfired on the party. Expressions like 'chor' (thief) for Kejriwal used by Ms Nirmala Sitharaman went in favour of the AAP and gave a message that we are desperate and losing ground," they added.

Where was Sushma Swaraj?

Some leaders concluded that the party paid price of ignoring its “experienced and sober” leaders like Sushma Swaraj and Rajnath Singh.

"These seasoned players were kept out from the strategy process. In fact, they are constantly being disregarded since the new regime assumed office. People are not foolish, they understand everything," complained another senior most leader.

Not going for polls soon after general elections

Not going for polls soon after last year’s Lok Sabha polls was a “blunder” as it gave the AAP sufficient time to campaign, said party leaders adding that the decision was taken by Shah without consultation of local leaders.

“The party should have gone for polls soon after the Lok Sabha polls. It would have given it the advantage of the Modi wave. The delay gave AAP time to reach out to people. We wanted to bring the ground feedback to the notice of party president but he became a prisoner of success and inaccessible. He started relying on his three-four close associates and his office was turned into a fortress with limited access to party workers,” they said.

They also found no logic of in delaying ticket distribution. "The names of candidates were announced only 20 days before polls. How can you reach out to voters in such short time?" asked one of the leaders.

‘Indisciplined’ BJP put off Sangh

According to source in sources in the RSS, the Sangh cadres were unhappy and joined the election campaign "late and half-heartedly" because of two reasons: the indiscipline and infighting in Delhi BJP and the "dictatorial style of functioning" of its CM designate Kiran Bedi. “Our foot soldiers were disappointed with the untimely arrival of BJP MPs who were assigned the responsibility of addressing local public meetings in every constituency. When they hit door-to-door campaign, they found AAP influence everywhere and it was difficult to counter it. The BJP leaders failed to come up with positive message to woo voters,” they observed.