Delhi election results: Who is Ramesh Bidhuri, BJP leader who gave tough fight to CM Atishi in Kalkaji?
Delhi election: Bharatiya Janata Party leader Ramesh Bidhuri served as Lok Sabha MP from South Delhi from 2014 to 2024.
Delhi chief minister Atishi on Saturday won the Kalkaji seat, defeating nearest rival Ramesh Bidhuri of the Bharatiya Janata Party by more than 3,500 votes.
Bidhuri, a prominent Gujjar face and three-time MLA, was fielded as a surprise BJP candidate against Atishi. However, the AAP leader fought back after trailing in initial rounds to clinch the seat for the second time.
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Who is Ramesh Bidhuri?
Ramesh Bidhuri has been a prominent BJP leader in Delhi's politics since past two decades.
Born on July 18, 1961, Bidhuri became involved with student politics while studying at University of Delhi's Shaheed Bhagat Singh College. Bidhuri served as the district president of the BJP between 1997 and 2003. He also served as the vice president of Delhi BJP between 2003 and 2008.
In 2014, he won the Lok Sabha election from South Delhi, defeating AAP's Col Devinder Sehrawat. In the 2019 election, he retained his seat by defeating AAP's Raghav Chadha.
Ramesh Bidhuri's political career has not been without controversies. In 2023, the BJP leader stoked a massive row over his religious slur at then Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MP Danish Ali in Lok Sabha. Months later, Bidhuri apologised for his abusive taunts.
During the Delhi assembly election campaign, Bidhuri was under fire from the opposition over his remarks against sitting CM Atishi.
On January 15, he drew flak over his remark against Atishi, calling the Delhi CM a “deer running in the forest”.
“People have been suffering in miserable conditions for four years, and now that elections are months away, Atishi is roaming in Delhi streets as a doe runs in the jungle (jaise jungle me hirni bhagti firti hai)... Whenever she comes across any sister on the streets, she runs and hugs them like a sister lost in Kumbh," he said.
Earlier in January, Bidhuri hit out at Atishi with “changed her father” barb.
"This Marlena (surname used earlier by Atishi) became Singh and changed her name. Kejriwal swore over his children not to go with the corrupt Congress; Marlena changed fathers. Earlier she was Marlena; now she has become Singh. This is their character," PTI quoted Bidhuri as saying.