E-Paper
Delhi BJP leaders push for 'CM face' to challenge Kejriwal, suggest names: Report
Delhi BJP is urging the top brass to declare a CM face for the upcoming polls against AAP's Arvind Kejriwal.
A section of the Delhi BJP is advocating for the party to declare a ‘CM face’ for the upcoming assembly elections in the national capital to challenge the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) led by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal. The Delhi BJP leaders also proposed that the CM face should be picked from notable leaders like Manor Tiwari, Bansuri Swaraj and others.
In the 2020 assembly election, the BJP contested against AAP without a leader as the CM face of the party. The Bharatiya Janata Party lost to AAP, which won 62 out of the total 70 seats.
"The debate over the issue has already begun with several senior leaders thinking that the BJP will benefit if it goes to poll with a face to challenge Kejriwal and AAP. They have already conveyed their sentiments to the national leaders in this regard," a top Delhi BJP leader told PTI.
Read more: ‘Kejriwal promised ₹90 lakh to each Goa election candidate’: CBI to Delhi court
"It could be anyone of the prominent leaders of the party like the MPs Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, Bansuri Swaraj or Manoj Tiwari, or state president Virendra Sachdeva, former MP Parvesh Verma or Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Vijender Gupta," said another senior Delhi BJP leader.
A faction of the Delhi BJP believes that the party rallying behind one leader can give a message of “unity” and streamline the campaigning process for the polls.
The BJP fought the 2015 Delhi Assembly polls with Kiran Bedi as its chief ministerial candidate but failed miserably, a Delhi BJP leader opposed to the idea pointed out. In the 2015 elections, BJP lost out to AAP, which won 67 out of the total 70 seats.
The debate to pick a CM face for the 2025 Delhi election is still open and the national leadership will take a decision later on, a BJP leader told PTI.
Meanwhile, AAP chief and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, currently lodged in Tihar jail in the Delhi excise policy case, is set to be the face of the party's campaign for the polls as the Aam Aadmi Party expresses confidence that Kejriwal will become the CM of the capital for the fourth consecutive time.
