Aam Aadmi Party national convener Arvind Kejriwal addressing a press conference at AAP HQ in New Delhi on Tuesday.
| Photo Credit: SHASHI SHEKHAR KASHYAP

Aam Aadmi Party Delhi president Saurabh Bharadwaj addressing a press conference.

New Delhi:

Keeping a key poll promise, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta announced after the first Cabinet meeting on Thursday that her government would implement the Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme in the national capital. In a move that may ignite a political slugfest, the chief minister also said that 14 Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) reports, whose tabling had allegedly been delayed by the previous AAP government, will now be presented in the Assembly.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Ms Gupta said in Hindi, “During the cabinet meeting, we have taken two big decisions. The Ayushman Bharat Yojana, whose implementation had been held back by the previous government, will be implemented in Delhi with a top-up of Rs 5 lakh from the state government. PM Narendra Modi had announced the scheme for the whole nation, but Delhi could not get its benefits because of the AAP. This will be done at the earliest after the formalities are completed.”

“There are 14 CAG reports pending, which were not tabled by the previous government. They will be tabled during the first session of the Assembly. These decisions were taken today. We will take up our other commitments, give shape to each one of them and present them before you soon,” she added.

The implementation of the Ayushman Bharat Yojana had become a major flashpoint between the AAP and the BJP. MPs from the BJP had also filed a petition in the Delhi High Court, seeking that the scheme be made available to people in the national capital.

The AAP had, however, argued that the capital’s residents enjoy “superior” benefits under the Delhi government’s schemes and implementing Ayushman Bharat would effectively be a downgrade. The Delhi government said that the Centre had used 2011 Census data for the Ayushman Bharat scheme, rendering it “old and archaic”, and did not take the evolving circumstances of society into consideration.

BJP MP Bansuri Swaraj had said there was no willingness on the part of the Delhi government to implement the central scheme. Both parties had made the issue an electoral one and the BJP had promised it would implement Ayushman Bharat when it came to power.

The tabling of the 14 CAG reports, including one on the scrapped liquor policy – which had led to AAP chief and then chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, then deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and other AAP leaders going to jail – had also become a big political issue.  

This matter was also being litigated in the Delhi High Court, which had, last month, refused to order a special session of the Assembly to discuss the reports. The bench had, however, noted the delay in their tabling. 

Atishi’s Dare

Ahead of the first cabinet meeting, former chief minister Atishi had urged to BJP to implement its other poll promise of giving Rs 2,500 a month to eligible women. When Chief Minister Gupta was asked about this, however, she said, “It is our government, the agenda will be ours. Ask her (Atishi) why she did not implement it when the AAP was in power.”

Atishi responded, saying that the women of Delhi were hoping the BJP would fulfil its promise, but the party had failed to do so. “The BJP has started breaking its promises on the first day itself,” she alleged.

The BJP secured 48 seats in the Delhi Assembly elections, returning to power in the national capital after 26 years and reducing the once-formidable AAP to just 22. 

New Delhi:

The new Chief Minister of Delhi will take oath at the iconic Ramlila Maidan on Thursday in a grand ceremony that will be attended by BJP leaders and ministers and all the allies. Sources said plans are in progress to make the party’s return to power in the national capital after 26 years a truly memorable event. 

The ceremony will begin at 4.30 pm.

A colourful musical programme will be held on the stage of Ramlila Maidan before the swearing-in ceremony, in which Kailash Kher will also perform.

Chief Ministers and Deputy Chief Ministers of 20 states will attend the mega event. Diplomats of major countries have also been invited. BJP leaders and workers from other states who campaigned in the Delhi elections are also expected to be present on the occasion.

More than 50 film stars and industrialists, will be present. Besides, Farmers of Delhi, beneficiaries of central government schemes including laadli sisters, and common people from Delhi will also be invited to the ceremony.

The spiritual leaders of the country will be represented by Baba Ramdev, Swami Chidananda, Baba Bageshwar Dhirendra Shastri and other religious figures. 

There, however, is no word on who is going to get the top job. Initially it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to France and the US that had delayed a decision. But now, even two days after his return, there has been no announcement, ratcheting up the suspense. 

While Parvesh Verma — the son of former Chief Minister Saheb Singh Verma — is seen as the front-runner in the race, sources said the list of probables has no less than 15 names that also include candidates for cabinet and the Assembly Speaker.

Nine names will be chosen, sources said, and Delhi will have eight ministers including the Chief Minister.

The 48 BJP MLAs are expected to meet on Wednesday to select their leader, who will succeed Aam Aadmi Party’s Atishi. 

In the election held earlier this month, the BJP had scripted a massive comeback, winning 48 of the assembly’s 70 seats and confining AAP to 22 — down from 62.

The end to the 10-year rule of AAP came on the heels of massive corruption allegations against its leaders, including then Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. A number of its leaders, including Mr Kejriwal and his then deputy Manish Sisodia — spent months in jail. 

Not just the alleged liquor policy scam, the “Sheesh Mahal” allegations against Mr Kejriwal – the Rs 33.6 crore revamp that that turned the official residence of the Chief Minister into an opulent bungalow suitable for the uber-rich – appeared to have taken the sheen off AAP that thrived on its governance records for the better part of the last decade.

Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) defeat in the Delhi assembly election is a turning point in Indian right wing politics. It marks the end, at least for now, of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) covert dalliance with an activist-turned-politician who grew into a formidable adversary to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In fact, it is likely the last time that the RSS would invest in a non-BJP outfit on the national stage. To understand it, we have to go to the roots of RSS’s ambitions and opportunistic collaborations of the past 75 years or so. 

To be sure, from 1980, when the BJP was born with Gandhian Socialism as its ideological credo until 1989 when it was born again, baptising itself in the Hindutva wave of the late eighties, the party remained the prodigal child for the RSS. In fact, for the most part of the decade, the Sangh was besotted with the Congress, even considering Rajiv Gandhi as its chosen one for a brief while. 

The Roots

The beginning of Sangh’s involvement in mainstream electoral politics is generally marked to be in 1951 when Syama Prasad Mookerji founded the Jan Sangh with its help. Balasaheb Deoras, RSS chief from 1973 to 1994, has said the organisation acutely felt the need for political ears when it was banned following Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination. It required elected representatives to speak for it in hostile legislatures and Parliament. Deoras was keen that RSS swayamsevaks join all political parties. The ideal proposition was they would be working in different parties during the day and attending shakhas together in the evening.

The Sangh’s aspiration was never limited to becoming the biggest organisation in the country but to be an all-encompassing, omnipresent one, with people trained in its nursery leading every aspect of national life. Explaining founder KB Hedgewar’s target of training 3% of the urban and 2% of the rural populations in the Sangh ideology, Deoras’s predecessor, MS Golwalkar, once said: “When Doctorji talked about one percent in the rural areas, he meant one capable of leading the remaining ninety-nine.”

A Coveted Instrument

That’s the reason why the RSS had its eyes set on the Congress Party and the genesis of the raging rivalry between the two. The pre-1947 Congress Party was the Big Tent of Indian politics. After Independence, it slowly broke up, with Communist outfits, socialists and Hindu nationalists exiting with big chunks of it over the next few decades. The Jan Sangh, and later the BJP, not only appealed to the majority Hindus but also were inimical to minorities. This is not to say that the RSS wanted all of them conjoined in a political set up with equal rights and powers, but merely that if it managed to take control of the largest and most diverse outfit of the time, the Congress, it could achieve its goals quicker. Holding the ideological reins of the party in power, it could dictate the rules of political and social engagement in a young country. 

While the RSS plays down Golwalkar’s political forays because of its constitutional commitment (written to abide by a condition to lift its 1948 ban) to stay away from politics, he did make several attempts. In 1937, Golwalkar himself contested for the post of general secretary of the Hindu Mahasabha when it held organisation elections for the first time, and despite GD Savarkar’s backing, lost to Indraprakash. He tried to get entry for RSS volunteers into the Congress but was thwarted by Jawaharlal Nehru. He again reportedly tried this after Nehru’s death, appealing to Lal Bahadur Shastri, Gulzarilal Nanda, MC Chagla and Swaran Singh to let RSS men into key organisational positions, but to no avail. Golwalkar then used the cow as an instrument of political mobilisation as he himself confessed to Verghese Kurien, India’s milkman. It did not deliver immediate political dividends but ended up creating much mayhem in the Capital. It did, however, help Jan Sangh gain political space in Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat.

In the post-Emergency and post-liberalisation periods, the RSS aligned with Socialist and Marxist parties. It stood in opposition to Manmohan Singh’s economic reforms, the entry of multinational corporations and computerisation, issues that took attention away from Hindutva and Mandal politics.

Struggle With Power

The political calibration and opportunistic alliances continued until the first BJP-led government was in power with Atal Bihari Vajpayee as the Prime Minister, not the person the RSS really wanted in charge. The RSS and the BJP were in their adversarial phase after the government fell and the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, led by Manmohan Singh, came to power in 2004. Some enraged Sangh leaders even suggested severing ties with the BJP and floating a new party. Narendra Modi, then chief minister of Gujarat, was yet to get RSS backing for a national role. The gradual patch-up between the then rising Gujarat stalwart and RSS began only in 2008, but the latter was already preparing the groundwork to unseat the Congress-led UPA government, which was going after its leaders.

Simultaneously, the Sangh identified corruption and black money stashed abroad as key issues to corner the Manmohan Singh regime. It covertly backed the newly minted Magsaysay award winner Arvind Kejriwal to lead that fight. While officially, the RSS kept its hands off Kejriwal’s anti-corruption movement, its volunteers mobilised support for agitations from all over the country. In private conversations with BJP leaders, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat even held up Kejriwal and his anti-corruption stand as an example of probity in public life worthy of emulation.

Kejriwal, The ‘Neutral’ Politician

Kejriwal eventually transformed his agitation into a political party and himself into a politician, promising to use power to uplift Delhi’s lot. Although the RSS did not officially back him, many in the organisation continued to view him with admiration, and this is said to have converted to quiet electoral support too, which partly accounted for the vote swing between the Lok Sabha and assembly elections. He became arguably the only major politician in the country projecting ideological neutrality; spouting Bharat Mata ki Jai, Vande Mataram and Inquilab Zindabad in the same breath. He unhesitatingly embraced Jai Shriram, wore a skull cap at Iftar parties, recited the Hanuman Chalisa on national television, and alluded to himself as an avatar born on Lord Krishna’s birthday. 

While Kejriwal adopted Hindutva lite, a chasm emerged between the RSS and the BJP, which peaked during the Lok Sabha elections when party president JP Nadda said the party didn’t need the RSS anymore. Kejriwal lost no time in indirectly making a pitch for support to the RSS. A BJP-RSS patch-up has been, however, under way. While some sections of the RSS are still miffed with the BJP, the organisation is back at work on the ground and BJP leaders are nodding in acknowledgement. RSS volunteers worked alongside BJP cadres in Haryana, Maharashtra and Delhi. Prime Minister Modi tweeted about Mohan Bhagwat’s Vijaydashami speech last year, something he had not done for almost a decade. Devendra Fadnavis-led Maharashtra is inducting RSS volunteers as ministerial staff across the government. 

On his part, Kejriwal is not one to give up. He is likely to focus on making inroads in new political territories, perhaps in the South. Meanwhile, with major irritants out of the way in the North, the Sangh Parivar united again, and major state governments under its thumb, project Hindu Rashtra is about to shift gears.

(Dinesh Narayanan is a Delhi-based journalist and author of ‘The RSS And The Making Of The Deep Nation’.)

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author

Former Delhi minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj is now a YouTuber. After his loss in the 2025 Delhi Assembly election, the AAP leader has launched a YouTube channel, “Berozgar Neta”, which means “unemployed politician”.

Mr Bharadwaj, who lost the Greater Kailash seat to BJP’s Shikha Roy, will use the platform to interact with people daily. In his first video, he shared how the election result “flipped his life by 180 degrees” and made him an “unemployed leader.”

On Wednesday, he shared a video and mentioned that the goal of this channel was to communicate directly with the public and answer their queries in an “open and transparent” manner.

In the 58-second-long clip, he said, “The Delhi results announced on February 8 have changed many lives, and the situation has changed 180 degrees for people like us. It can be said that leaders like us have become unemployed.”

“People are reaching out to me with messages and calls. I want to share how things change in the life of a politician after an election loss. I will also try to respond to your questions. So please join my platform,” he added.

The 45-year-old engineer-turned-politician also announced his YouTube innings on X, writing, “From tomorrow I am coming among you on a new platform! Now you can also join me on YouTube, where we will discuss a new topic every day. Also, you can share your suggestions. See you tomorrow on a new journey with our first video!”

बेरोजगार नेता

कल से मैं एक नए प्लेटफॉर्म पर आपके बीच आ रहा हूँ!

अब आप YouTube पर भी मेरे साथ जुड़ सकते हैं, जहाँ हम हर रोज़ एक नए विषय पर चर्चा करेंगे।साथ ही,आप अपने सुझाव भी साझा कर सकते हैं।

कल मिलते हैं नए सफर पर अपनी पहली Video के साथ !

Link- https://t.co/FIGcEtUN5z pic.twitter.com/PZP0BoeBdS

— Saurabh Bharadwaj (@Saurabh_MLAgk) February 12, 2025

The former legislator will discuss a new topic every day and has invited viewers to share their suggestions and participate in the discussions. So far, the channel has approximately 52,000 subscribers.

Mr Bharadwaj, a three-time MLA from Greater Kailash, held various portfolios in the Delhi government, including home, health, water, industries, transport and power, among others. He lost in the 2025 Delhi Assembly elections to Shikha Roy by over 3,000 votes.

Mr Bhardwaj was among the popular AAP leaders, including party chief Arvind Kejriwal, Malviya Nagar MLA Somnath Bharti, and former Deputy CM Manish Sisodia, who lost the elections this year.

The BJP won 48 of the 70 seats, ending AAP’s rule in Delhi and forming the government after 27 years. The Arvind Kejriwal-led party managed to win 22 seats.

New Delhi:

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal today alleged Union Home Minister and BJP leader Amit Shah is allowing “gundaraaj (hooliganism)” to harass AAP workers ahead of voting in the Delhi assembly election scheduled on Wednesday.

Mr Kejriwal told reporters people allegedly backed by the BJP assaulted AAP workers, and the Delhi Police did not do anything to stop it.

A video has surfaced showing members of the Valmiki Samaj and the Dalit Mahapanchayat protesting against Mr Kejriwal, who was Delhi chief minister before Atishi took over. In the video, the protesters are seen vandalising an AAP campaign tempo.

The protesters are seen tearing apart posters of the yellow-and-blue broomstick election symbol of the AAP, which were pasted on the van.

The AAP alleged the Delhi Police did not act against the attackers.

The New Delhi Deputy Commissioner of Police, however, in a post on X said they have not received any complaint about the alleged attack.

“Thank you for bringing this into our notice,” the DCP New Delhi said in the post, replying to Mr Kejriwal’s post which had a video of the vandalism. “No PCR [police control room] call or complaint received in police station. It is requested that a formal complaint may be lodged in the police station and we assure strict legal action,” the police officer said.

On members of the Maharashtra Valmiki Samaj and Dalit Mapanchayat attacking AAP’s election campaign van, DCP New Delhi tweets “No PCR call or complaint received in police station. It is requested that a formal complaint may be lodged in the Police station and we assure strict… https://t.co/yw0JMtpxkR pic.twitter.com/SdCeiI45CF

— ANI (@ANI) February 2, 2025

Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva and MP Manoj Tiwari said the AAP government thrives on “lies, confusion, and negative politics”.

“They have no concern for the people of Delhi, which is why the entire city is now united in one voice – we want a BJP government,” Mr Sachdeva said at the launch of the BJP’s campaign song, ‘Dilwalon Ki Dilli Ko BJP Sarkar Chahiye’, sung by former MP Dinesh Lal Yadav ‘Nirahua’.

Earlier, BJP national spokesperson and MP Sambit Patra said the AAP has indulged in corruption in all departments. “The voters of Delhi are going to apply black ink on the face of scamsters,” he said, alluding to the Delhi liquor policy case in which Mr Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia were jailed for several months.

Referring to the vandalism, AAP spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar said the BJP is “heading towards a historic defeat” and is trying to boost party workers’ morale.

“BJP had earlier got stones thrown at Arvind Kejriwal on January 18… The morale of BJP goons has increased so much that today they are openly attacking the Aam Aadmi Party’s campaign van. There was an LED installed on it, which they broke… The eyes of the Election Commission in Delhi are closed, they are not able to see any of the misdeeds of the BJP… Such hooliganism will not work in Delhi. The BJP should be called out for its misdeeds,” Ms Kakkar told reporters today.

#WATCH | On members of the Maharashtra Valmiki Samaj and Dalit Mapanchayat attacking AAP’s election campaign van, AAP National Spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar says “…BJP is heading towards a historic defeat. BJP had earlier got stones pelted on Arvind Kejriwal on 18th… https://t.co/yw0JMtpxkR pic.twitter.com/FYKbR5BCZg

— ANI (@ANI) February 2, 2025

Mr Kejriwal also posted a video showing a BJP leader asking residents at a narrow street in Delhi’s Janakpuri to remove AAP flags and keep only BJP ones. Ashish Sood, the local BJP candidate, was seen stepping on the AAP’s flags which had fallen on the road.

The AAP and BJP’s rivalry is not new. When Mr Kejriwal was chief minister, the AAP and the BJP fought bitterly. Mr Kejriwal has for long alleged the Centre has been creating trouble in Delhi, a Union Territory, using the Delhi Police which comes under the Ministry of Home Affairs and the office of the Lieutenant Governor.

The Congress, which was in power for 15 consecutive years in Delhi, has suffered setbacks in the last two assembly elections and has failed to win any seat.

In contrast, the AAP dominated the 2020 assembly election by winning 62 out of the 70 seats while the BJP got only eight seats.

Votes will be counted on February 8.

New Delhi:

Eight outgoing AAP MLAs joined the BJP here on Saturday, with only four days to go for the February 5 Delhi Assembly polls. All the eight MLAs resigned from the primary membership of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Friday, citing reasons like alleged corruption and the Arvind Kejriwal-led party’s deviation from its ideology.

All the eight legislators were denied poll tickets by the AAP this time.

The MLAs who joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are Vandana Gaur (Palam), Rohit Mehraulia (Trilokpuri), Girish Soni (Madipur), Madan Lal (Kasturba Nagar), Rajesh Rishi (Uttam Nagar), B S Joon (Bijwasan), Naresh Yadav (Mehrauli) and Pawan Sharma (Adarsh Nagar).

After resigning from the AAP, they said they had also sent their resignation letters to the Assembly speaker, relinquishing their membership of the House.

Former AAP MLA Vijender Garg and several other leaders of the Kejriwal-led party too joined the saffron outfit in the presence of Baijayant Panda, its national vice-president and the in-charge of the Delhi BJP, and state president Virendra Sachdeva.

Welcoming the MLAs and leaders to the BJP, Panda said it is a “historic” day as they have gotten rid of “AAPda” (disaster) and hoped that after the February 5 polls, Delhi too will be freed from it.

The 70-member Delhi Assembly is scheduled to go to polls on February 5, with the results set to be declared on February 8.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

False promises, lies and loot is how Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the Arvind Kejriwal-led ruling Aam Aadmi Party or AAP in Delhi, promising to free the national capital from such ills at a poll rally in the city on Friday. 

Delhi goes to polls on February 5. The votes will be counted on February 8. 

“The AAP is spending on advertisements rather than infrastructural developments. They don’t care about the interests of the poor or the middle class,” said PM Modi at Dwarka poll rally, adding, “We have to together free Delhi from “jhooth” (lies) and “loot”.”

The AAP has been in power in the national capital since 2013.

PM Modi showcased the recently inaugurated Yashobhoomi convention centre, terming it a glimpse of the BJP’s vision for a modern Delhi. 

“The BJP wants to make Delhi modern and a glimpse of that can be seen in Dwarka after the Centre constructed the majestic Yashobhoomi here,” he said.

Accusing the AAP of turning Delhi into a “political ATM” to fund its ambitions in other states, PM Modi said, “AAP-da (AAP disaster) has looted Delhi’s money and is using it to expand its politics elsewhere. They are taking money out of Delhiites’ pockets.”

The Prime Minister accused AAP of engaging in constant fights instead of focusing on governance.

“Over the past years, they have only been fighting – with Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, and with the Centre. If such people continue to rule Delhi, the city will keep lagging behind,” he warned.

PM Modi assured the people that a BJP government in Delhi would take tough action against corruption. 

“As soon as the BJP forms government here, there will be a stricter crackdown on AAP-da’s corruption,” he said, adding that the incumbent party had been trying to suppress a damning Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report.

“In the first session of the Vidhan Sabha itself, we will table the CAG report which contains details of AAP-da’s scams,” PM Modi promised.

The prime minister reiterated his commitment to the national capital’s development, saying, “I guarantee that the BJP government will not leave any stone unturned in Delhi’s progress.” 

He called for a government that focuses on coordination rather than confrontation. “Delhi does not need a government that thrives on conflict, but one that ensures solutions to all problems,” PM Modi stressed.

.

New Delhi:

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal was detained by the police Thursday afternoon after she dumped three mini-truckloads of garbage outside the residence of former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in protest.

Earlier in the day, Maliwal visited Vikaspuri, where she claimed that the streets were choked with waste, posing severe health and hygiene issues for residents.

Maliwal, along with a group of supporters, collected the garbage in three mini trucks and headed to Kejriwal’s residence at 5, Ferozeshah Road.

Accompanied by hundreds of women holding placards that read, “Muskuraiye, AAP Delhi Mein Hain,” Maliwal dumped the garbage outside Kejriwal’s house, using a shovel to throw waste onto the ground. Soon after, she was confronted by female police personnel and removed from the site. She was subsequently detained and taken to the Parliament Street Police Station.

According to Maliwal, she was released after a few hours and an FIR was registered against her under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code for violating prohibitory orders.

After her release, Maliwal told reporters, “For the past ten years, Arvind Kejriwal has ensured that Delhi becomes a giant garbage dump. Roads are broken, drains are overflowing, and waste is piling up everywhere. Women and children are forced to live in unhygienic conditions, and yet the government does nothing.” 

Earlier, Maliwal shared a video on X, showing her and others collecting garbage from Vikaspuri. “There have been heaps of garbage on the roads in Vikaspuri for years. People are very angry. They are going to collect all this garbage and dump it at Kejriwal’s house,” she wrote in the post.

She added, “The condition of the entire Delhi has deteriorated. The filth and stink that Delhiites face daily will be faced by Kejriwal ji today. The public is coming, Kejriwal ji, don’t be afraid.” Maliwal has had a strained relationship with AAP and Kejriwal since last year when she alleged that she was misbehaved with at his residence by his personal secretary. The matter is currently being heard in court.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)