JOIN US To check dissension within the Delhi unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), party top brass will hold a meeting on Sunday to take a call on the need to project a chief ministerial candidate for the upcoming Assembly elections.
The party believes that internal discontent is holding it back from giving a good fight to the ruling Congress.
In other poll-bound states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, the BJP already has chief minister designates in Shivraj Singh Chauhan, Raman Singh and Vasundhara Raje, respectively.
In Delhi, however, the principal opposition party is finding it difficult to overcome the leadership crisis.
The party’s central election committee, headed by president Rajnath Singh, will decide on shortlisting of the candidates for the Assembly polls, besides looking for a credible face for the Delhi elections as party’s city chief Vijay Goel is facing strong opposition from within.
Goel is staring at stiff competition from Harsh Vardhan, who was health minister in the earlier BJP led-government in Delhi when the late Saheb Singh Verma was the chief minister.
The internal bickering over the probable chief ministerial candidate is so intense, with groups representing Vardhan and Goel claiming upper hand in the race, that Delhi in-charge and former president Nitin Gadkari had to issue a formal press release earlier to emphasise that no one has been identified for the post.
Insiders believe that Vardhan stands a better chance and is Gadkari and other top leaders choice, given his clean image. But, Goel, who has served as an minister of state in the prime minister’s office during Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s regime, enjoys more organisational strength.