New Delhi: People in Delhi are frustrated by the AAP government’s frequent clashes with the lieutenant governor and the Centre and are looking at the BJP as an alternative, said Kapil Mishra, BJP’s candidate for the Karawal Nagar seat in the upcoming polls.

Mishra said the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has failed on governance issues and added that the party “does not have a CM candidate” as the Supreme Court has imposed “restrictions” on Arvind Kejriwal. He also said fielding people accused in the 2020 northeast Delhi riots has “hurt the people of Delhi”.

Mishra will face Manoj Tyagi from the ruling AAP and PK Mishra from Congress in the February 5 polls in the Karawal Nagar assembly constituency, which saw communal violence in riots in the national capital in 2020.

It has over 3.07 lakh voters. “The wounds of the 2020 northeast Delhi riots are still fresh, and we will not forget what happened. Bringing the accused into the election fray is a deliberate attempt to rub salt into our wounds,” Mishra said and added that his party was not seeking votes in the name of the riots. “Tahir Hussain has been given a seat in Mustafabad, which is hurting the people of Delhi. They are deliberately rubbing salt into our wounds,” he said.

Hussain, who is a former AAP councillor jailed for alleged involvement in the riots, is contesting the election from the Mustafabad seat on a ticket by the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM).

The AIMIM has also fielded Shafa-ur-Rehman, who is also in jail in a riots-related case, from Okhla. Mishra also alleged that both the AAP and the Congress are solely focusing on Muslim voters and do not care about the rest of Delhi’s residents. Over 50 people were killed and scores of others injured in the northeast Delhi riots that happened following clashes between supporters and opponents of the Citizenship Amendment Act in February 2020. Mishra, in a controversial speech before the riots, had given an ultimatum, threatening to remove those protesting on roads against the CAA in Delhi’s Jaffrabad.

The speech was blamed by a section to be among the triggers for the communal violence. Asked about his Hindutva image in the party, Mishra said he has received “positive feedback” for it. “We are not affected by the negative comments,” he said. “Hindutva is not an election issue for us, it is our way of life. And if we have to pay a price for it in politics, we are willing to pay that price,” the BJP leader added.

Mishra, who was earlier an AAP leader, asserted that the BJP will form the next government in Delhi. “The people of Delhi want a government that can work with the prime minister to develop the city.”