Local leadership was not projected properly in Delhi: Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh

MUMBAI: A day after BJP was mauled in the Delhi assembly polls, one of its powerful chief ministers told ET that the party lost badly because it could not project its local leadership.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh said on Wednesday that local issues may have played their part, but the main reason for the drubbing was not highlighting BJP’s Delhi state leadership. At the fag end of the campaign, BJP’s central leadership led by Amit Shah had parachuted in former IPS officer Kiran Bedi naming her as its chief ministerial candidate causing heartburn among its state leadership.

Political commentators have already blamed BJP’s worst-ever loss in Delhi on the confusion sowed among cadres by the lastminute decision to bring in Bedi. “It is obvious that it was the party’s big fault that the local leadership was not projected properly in Delhi and this led to confusion. This is one of the main reasons for the poor performance in Delhi but there are also many other reasons. Local issues may have played in the city,” Singh told ET.