Delhi Assembly Polls: BJP's possible CM face for upcoming elections

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is expected to declare their chief ministerial face for the forthcoming Delhi assembly polls in a couple of days.

“ An internal study displayed that people want to know who the face of the BJP will be if it comes to power, mainly for the reason that on the other side there is a clear face in Arvind Kejriwal,” as specified by ThePrint.

“ The top leadership is quite open to new ideas, knowing that there are many factions in the Delhi BJP.”

“ More often than not, the BJP competes with a CM face in states where it is in power, like Maharashtra, Haryana, Jharkhand. But in Delhi also the party have contested election with a CM face, it was VK Malhotra in 2008, Dr Harsh Vardhan in 2013 and Kiran Bedi in 2015,” BJP leader stated.

“ We know that if we contest without a face, Kejriwal will create a lot of hullabaloo about it during the campaign.”

The BJP talked about the matter in recent core group and strategy meeting, and came up to the conclusion that in the Delhi polls, a face is requisite.

Take a look at some of the options before the BJP:

Harsh Vardhan:

Harsh Vardhan is the Union Minister for Science and Technology, and also Health and Family Welfare. He has a past record of serving in Delhi as an MLA for over 30 years, as the President of the BJP’s state unit and as health minister in the Delhi govt.

Manoj Tiwari:

Bhojpuri actor turned politician is at present the president of the Delhi BJP and the MP from North East Delhi. His Purvanchal background is what makes him appealing as a CM face since the national capital has more than 50 lakh voters who comes from that region of eastern UP and Bihar. These voters have substantial hold on over 20 of Delhi’s 70 seats.

Vijay Goel:

Goel who served as a union minister under Atal Bihari Vajpayee led NDA government, as well as in Modi’s first term. Has also worked as the Delhi BJP chief.

Be that as it may, Goel hails from the Baniya community, and portraying him as the CM face would have the opposite effect of appointing Tiwari, it is likely to rile the Purvanchali vote bank.

Gautam Gambhir:

Gambhir is popular among the young generation, but stands in need of experience. Previously, he had stated that being named as the CM candidate would be a dream come true and an honour for him.

The 38 year old by caste is a Brahmin, which would not make for a numerically sound pick. But a BJP leader gave the example of Haryana, where Manohar Lal Khattar was named the CM in 2014 regardless of coming from the numerically weak Punjabi community.

Pravesh Verma:

The MP from West Delhi is the son of former Delhi CM Sahib Singh Verma, and a strong Jat leader. His constituency consists Jat, Punjabi and Purvanchali voters and he has received praise for his organisational strength in the western and south west parts of the capitan.

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