New Delhi: While lauding the contribution of his party workers, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, on his 51st birthday on Friday, claimed that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will win all the 70 seats in the Assembly election next year. The AAP national convenor addressed his party workers who came to greet him on his birthday.

In a video posted on the AAP’s official Twitter handle, Mr Kejriwal said: “I want to thank the AAP workers for their contribution towards the party. In the last Assembly elections, we won 67 seats but this time we will win all 70 seats.” The AAP had registered an electrifying victory in the last Assembly election by winning 67 of the 70 seats in Delhi.

The AAP faces an uphill task to ensure that it retains the vote share it had garnered in the last Assembly elections as the party had to face a humiliating defeat in the recent Lok Sabha elections in which it was not able to secure even a single seat.

The AAP candidates had lost their deposits in five of the seven parliamentary seats. Also, in the 2017 municipal polls, the AAP had lost to the BJP in all the three municipal bodies.

Mr Kejriwal, who had been a vocal critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was also greeted by the BJP stalwart on his birthday. “Birthday greetings to Delhi CM Shri @ArvindKejriwal. Praying for his good health and long life,” PM Modi tweeted. Mr Kejriwal responded by thanking the Prime Minister.

Mr Kejriwal, who had lashed out at Mr Modi on several occasions during his first term as Prime Minister, has not publicly attacked him since the BJP formed the government for a second term.

In June this year, Mr Kejriwal had met the Prime Minister and sought the Centre’s support in executing the Delhi government’s plan to store Yamuna water during the rainy season. Days after this meeting, the Central government gave its nod to the AAP government’s ambitious proposal to conserve water in the floodplains of Yamuna.

“Assured full cooperation of Del govt. To develop Delhi, capital city of India, it is imp that Del govt n Centre work together (sic),” Mr Kejriwal had tweeted after the meeting.

The Leader of Opposition in Delhi, Vijender Gupta, his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee, former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren and BJP MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar were among those who greeted Mr Kejriwal on his birthday.