Jaitley BJP’s choice as Delhi CM candidate?

Delhi BJP leaders have maintained that Jaitley can be the best bet when Congress’ nominee Sheila Dixit will be running for a third term, reports Shekhar Iyer.

Who will be the BJP's chief ministerial candidate for Delhi?

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Though the issue did not figure in the party's national executive, the debate has gained momentum among BJP leaders on the sidelines. Party general secretary Arun Jaitley is sticking to his stand that he cannot be considered for the post as he was not even on Delhi’s electoral rolls.

On the other hand, Delhi BJP leaders have maintained that Jaitley could be the best bet when Congress’ nominee Sheila Dixit will be running for a third term.

Jaitley’s contention is that he did not think it would be appropriate for him to be projected when other contenders, namely, V K Malhotra, Harshvardhan and Vijay Goel have been working for the party’s success all these months.

“Any one of them can become chief minister,” he is said to have told other leaders. But they said they would not stand in the way of Jaitley being projected by the party. Malhotra who turned up for the conclave on Saturday told other BJP leaders that though the scene is Delhi is favourable to the BJP, “everyone has to work hard”.

The idea of deputing Jaitley to Delhi was mooted during discussions between the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate L.K. Advani had with party chief Rajnath Singh and other leaders.