MCD polls: BJP president Nadda holds meeting to discuss party strategy
The Delhi unit of the BJP is currently in the process of finalising the list of probable candidates for the polls, which will be shared with the national leadership. Senior party leaders said the first list of candidates is likely to be announced by November 11 or 12.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president JP Nadda held a meeting with senior leader of the party’s Delhi unit on Wednesday to discuss the BJP’s strategy, including candidate selection, for the municipal corporation polls on December 4, party leaders aware of the matter said.
The Delhi unit of the BJP is currently in the process of finalising the list of probable candidates for the polls, which will be shared with the national leadership. Senior party leaders said the first list of candidates is likely to be announced by November 11 or 12.
The last date to file nomination for the polls is November 14.
A senior BJP leader said the meeting held by Nadda was attended by Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta, Delhi BJP organisational secretary Siddharthan, leader of opposition in the Delhi assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri and municipal election management committee in-charge Ashish Sood, among other leaders.
“The meeting was to discuss the strategy and the issues that the party will focus on to corner the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led Delhi government. Corruption cases and their failure to check on pollution are among the key issues that the BJP will focus on in its campaign. The party will plan a campaign around the Centre’s recent move to give flats to slum residents. While our party workers are taking slum residents from other parts of the city to show them the flats, we are planning to launch another campaign where we will assure people that they too will get a flat,” the leader said, requesting anonymity.
The BJP has tasked 29 leaders, including BJP national general secretary Vinod Tawde, BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya, and Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha president and MP Tejasvi Surya to interact with party leaders at the mandal and district level, former councillors, and MLAs to identify the candidates for 250 municipal wards.
A second BJP leader said the party’s Delhi unit will finalise three names for each of the 250 municipal wards in Delhi, and the list of names will be sent to the party’s central leadership for a final decision. “The process to select three names has been very exhaustive, as senior leaders appointed by the central leadership have taken feedback from party workers at the grassroot level,” the leader said.
The party has received close to 15,000 applications from ticket aspirants. According to Delhi BJP leaders involved in the process for preparing the list of probable names, the party is also considering former councillors who were denied tickets in 2017 as the party decided to replace all sitting councillors to counter anti-incumbency.
“The decision to not give tickets to sitting councillors last time gave dividends, as the BJP not only won a third term, but also won more seats. But this time, the situation is a bit different and the party is just focusing on ‘winnability’ as the main criteria. Party is actively considering names of some of our former councillors who didn’t contest in 2017,” said another senior leader aware of the development.