BJP undecided on Delhi seats

Factionalism and serious differences among senior party leaders once again came to the fore as the BJP failed to finalise its list of candidates from Delhi for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections for the third consecutive day.

Factionalism and serious differences among senior party leaders once again came to the fore as the BJP failed to finalise its list of candidates from Delhi for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections for the third consecutive day.

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Even BJP’s prime ministerial candidate L.K. Advani and party president Rajnath Singh, who held marathon meetings with the state BJP leaders on Friday and Saturday failed to resolve the crisis.

BJP insiders said it was basically the lack of consensus on candidates from New Delhi and West Delhi constituency. “While former MP Vijay Goel has been staking claim on the New Delhi seat, a section of central leaders want Janakpuri MLA Jagdish Mukhi to contest from this seat. This way they want to accommodate former Delhi Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma’s son Parvesh Verma from the west Delhi seat. Even Delhi mayor Arti Mehra is lobbying hard for a ticket from this seat,” said a BJP leader.

Party insiders said this has miffed both Mukhi and Goel. “Both of them had individually met central party leaders today to express their displeasure. They had conveyed their reluctance in fighting from the constituencies other than those of their choice,” said a party leader.

A section of state leaders are of the opinion that the lack of consensus among party leaders to finalise the candidates might result in party’s poor performance at the hustings. “It was the arbitrary selection of ticket that had cost us the assembly elections in the Capital last year. If the party continues the same attitude while selecting candidates, the result would not be much different this time,” said a BJP insider.