Kiran Bedi, BJP's chief ministerial candidate, lost by over 2000 votes from Krishna Nagar (Reuters photo)
Days after her bid for Chief Minister of Delhi was firmly demolished by Arvind Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi has declared "Am relieved my parents were not alive to hear the foul words hurled at me" during the campaign that ended with her party, the BJP, getting just three of Delhi's 70 seats. Mr Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party or AAP landed the other 67.
In a blog titled "An open letter to fellow Indians", Ms Bedi, who was the first Indian woman to join the police service, appears to take aim at Mr Kejriwal, whose government has promised cheaper power and free water. "People need services to be delivered... but they also want freebies... more you give, more you get. They do not get it still, that there are no free lunches in life. If you rob Peter to pay Paul, it won't be long before all get robbed," she writes. Ms Bedi struck at Mr Kejriwal often in her campaign, accusing him of inherent "toxicity"; he refused to retaliate, describing her as "a very nice lady" who would be used by the BJP as "a scapegoat" for its inevitable defeat.
Ms Bedi says, of her loss, "I have failed the test. And take full responsibility for my decision. But inside me has not failed." Last week, she controversially declared, "I have not lost. The BJP is a national party. It should introspect on why it has lost."
Ms Bedi recounts what she describes as her extensive service to Delhi in her blog with anecdotes like this one: "I did crime prevention saving women from being raped in rural areas on dark nights by erstwhile criminal tribes with literally no cops on roles... by involving village young men to patrol at night."