Delhi CM role: BJP may pick woman, old-timer or Purvanchali face

BJP leaders emphasised that the CM’s name will be finalised only after Prime Minister Narendra Modi returns to India on February 14 or 15.

Two days after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won a comprehensive victory in the Delhi assembly elections, the buzz over who the Capital’s next chief minister will be intensified on Monday, with the names of several legislators doing the rounds for the top post.

BJP workers gather to celebrate the party's win in the Delhi assembly election at the party headquarters in New Delhi on Saturday. (PTI)

The results of the Delhi polls were declared on February 8, with the BJP winning 48 seats in the 70-member House, ending a 27-year exile from the city and ousting the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which was reduced to 22 seats, down from 62 earlier.

On Monday, at least two senior BJP leaders aware of the matter told HT that if the party’s central leadership leans towards choosing a woman as the next CM, Shalimar Bagh MLA Rekha Gupta — the national vice president of the BJP’s women wing — could emerge as a front-runner, though Greater Kailash legislator Shikha Roy, who defeated Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) heavyweight Saurabh Bharadwaj, is also likely to be a contender.

Others in the race include three-term MLA from Rohini, Vijender Gupta; Ghonda MLA Ajay Mahawar; Purvanchali face and Laxmi Nagar MLA Abhay Verma; and Malviya Nagar MLA Satish Upadhyay. Some winning candidates who have been active in building the party organisation over the years are also in consideration -- Janakpuri MLA Ashish Sood, who is the in-charge of the party unit in Goa; and Uttam Nagar MLA Pawan Sharma, the co in-charge of the party unit in Assam.

The name of firebrand leader Kapil Mishra, a former AAP minister who won this year’s polls from the Karawal Nagar constituency, is also doing the rounds; as is that of Parvesh Verma, who emerged as a giant killer in the elections after he defeated AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal in New Delhi.

Party leaders emphasised that the chief minister’s name will be finalised only after Prime Minister Narendra Modi — who is travelling to France and the United States this week — returns to India on February 14 or 15.

Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said the central leadership of the BJP will take a final call on who will be the new chief minister of Delhi. “The name will be announced after the central leadership takes a decision,” said Sachdeva. The leaders also said that the Delhi cabinet under the BJP will have a balance of different sections of society, and will likely have representation from the Jat, Dalit, Purvanchali, Sikh, Pahari, and Baniya communities.

One of the leaders mentioned above said that the party may pick someone for CM with organisational skills, pointing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks in his speech following the declaration of the results — that the BJP government will not leave any stone unturned to ensure the “all-round development” of the national capital.

“Delhi has a complex administrative set up and is surrounded by Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, both of which are BJP-ruled states. The new CM will be required to have coordination with the CMs of Haryana and UP because multiple development factors in Delhi such as roads, water supply are linked to the two states. It also is likely to be one of the factors that the BJP top leadership might consider when they pick the new CM of Delhi,” the leader said, asking not to be named.

A second BJP leader said the party was not likely choose one of Delhi’s seven Lok Sabha MPs as the CM.

“Appointing any of the seven sitting MPs as the next CM will require holding two bypolls in the city — one MLA will also have to resign to give up their seat for the MP,” the leader said, asking not to be named.

To be sure, the BJP has time and again chosen as CM who is an unexpected face -- this has happened in Rajasthan, Haryana, and Madhya Pradesh. The leaders quoted above said such a possibility cannot be ruled out in Delhi.