BJP looks at lucky mascot Jaitley

NEW DELHI: The BJP has fallen back on its lucky mascot - the high-profile general secretary Arun Jaitley - for securing a victory in the Delhi Municipal Corporation (MCD) elections. The move had to be approved by the party president Rajnath Singh.

Interestingly, Singh had tried to clip Jaitley’s wings by removing him from the post of chief spokesman of the party, a month back.

But, Jaitley has to his credit, five straight victories for his party in state assembly polls, which may have resulted in the initiative.

His success route began from Gujarat, followed by wins in Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar and Punjab polls. Party insiders concede that barring Gujarat, which is considered a saffron bastion, it was not easy for the BJP to win the polls in the other states.

The former Law Minister has taken charge of his new assignment.

The party has to announce a list of 272 candidates by the next two days for the corporation elections, which are to be held on April 5. It has already short-listed potential candidates and Jaitley will have very less time to weigh their winnablity.

A party insider said it would have been better had Jaitley’s name as election in-charge been announced a week earlier. The RSS’s mouthpiece ‘Organiser’ heaped fulsome praise on Jaitley in an article.