A day after a crushing defeat in the Delhi assembly election, a newly-elected BJP MLA echoed the views of some of the party’s leaders who had described Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Paty (AAP) boss Arvind Kejriwal as a terrorist.

“Arvind Kejriwal is a corrupt man, he sympathises with terrorists, plays role of Pakistan Army spokesman, raises questions on Indian Army and supports tukde-tukde gang. Indeed, terrorist is the appropriate term for him,” ANI quoted OP Sharma, BJP MLA from Vishwas Nagar as saying.

The “terrorist” tag had backfired spectacularly on the BJP as Delhi voters gave a thumbs down to the saffron party’s hyper nationalist election campaign.

The BJP which claimed it would win at least 45 seats and form the government in Delhi bagged only eight of the 70 seats in the Delhi assembly while the AAP swept the rest.

Delhi BJP MP Parvesh Verma and Union minister Prakash Javadekar had called Kejriwal a terrorist as the saffron party ran a high-voltage campaign where they targeted the AAP for allegedly supporting the anti Citizenship Amendment Act protesters in Shaheen Bagh locality.

Verma’s rant earned him a 96-hour campaign ban from the Election Commission. The poll panel banned him for a second time for 24 hours that prevented him from campaigning in the last leg.

Kejriwal had hit back after Verma’s “terrorist” slur, saying that as chief minister he had worked for improving the quality of education, healthcare, free pilgrimage for old citizens. “Are these steps that a terrorist would take?” he had asked.

The BJP had deployed an entire phalanx that included Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath to win Delhi where the party has been put of power since 1998. But despite winning all seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi eight months ago, the BJP suffered a stunning gloss in the assembly elections, virtually sinking with little trace.