MCD Elections 2017: Manoj Tiwari, Who Once Lost To Yogi Adityanath, Shocks Arvind Kejriwal

New Delhi: In 2009, popular Bhojpuri actor Manoj Tiwari contested the national election from Uttar Pradesh as a Samajwadi Party candidate. He was fielded by the party from Gorakhpur, which has only sent the BJP's Yogi Adityanath to parliament since 1998. Mr Tiwari stood no chance.

Cut to 2017. On Wednesday, as the BJP retained three municipal corporations in an election that had attained mega proportions, Manoj Tiwari, 46, took centrestage. As the BJP's Delhi chief, he gets credit for steering the party on ground to a commanding win, though all leaders, including the actor-turned-politician, have acknowledged that it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity that won the party a third term despite allegations of poor handling of Delhi's civic affairs.

The BJP had won, Mr Tiwari said, because of PM Modi's policies and the leadership of party chief Amit Shah. "This is a victory of Delhi's people who believe that the BJP will work for their happiness and welfare," he said on Wednesday in his victory speech.
 The BJP has won 181 out of the total 272 seats in the three corporations, dealing a severe blow to the hope of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party of consolidating its position in Delhi and to the Congress, which had hoped for a political revival in the capital.

Mr Tiwari's political standing gets a significant leg-up. He was handed charge of the Delhi unit only six months ago and tasked with ensuring that an anti-incumbency sentiment did not trip the party after controlling the Municipal Corporation of Delhi for 10 years.

He was appointed with an eye on the capital's significant number of Poorvanchali voters, from eastern UP and Bihar. The BJP reckoned that the Poorvanchali voters, seen as the prime driver behind Arvind Kejriwal's sweep of Delhi in the assembly elections, would connect with the Bhojpuri actor-singer.
 Manoj Tiwari, who is also the BJP member of Parliament from northeast Delhi, swiftly got down to the task, launching overnight stays in slums, unauthorised colonies and semi-urban parts of the city to interact with voters.

In an intense campaign, he covered almost 250 of the 272 wards in the three corporations, Mr Tiwari switched with ease from Hindi to Bhojpuri and crooned his hit songs in areas dominated by Poorvanchali voters.

He also reportedly composed some of the radio jingles that the BJP used extensively in its campaign for the MCD elections.

Manoj Tiwari would've made vote appeals alongside once-rival Yogi Adityanath, but the plan to rope in the new Uttar Pradesh chief minister for the Delhi civic polls campaign did not come about.

(With inputs from PTI)