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New Delhi: Suspense continues over who will be the chief minister in case the Bharatiya Janata Party is voted to power in the forthcoming Delhi assembly elections.
The suspense is unusual for the BJP, which prefers to tell its voters about its chief ministerial candidates well in advance. Delhi is due for polls along with Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh in November-December.
Vasundhara Raje Scindia, Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Raman Singh, the chief ministers of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh respectively will be the BJP's chief ministerial candidates in those states. But a lack of unanimity and the presence of nearly half a dozen claimants for the post of Delhi chief minister has forced the party to delay a formal announcement.
"The party's central leadership will take the final call on this issue," Vijay Kumar Malhotra, the party's deputy leader in Lok Sabha, said. Incidentally Malhotra, who represents South Delhi seat, is among the contenders to become the next chief minister.
The party's national general secretary Arun Jaitley, national secretary Vijay Goel, Delhi state unit president Dr Harshvardhan, leader of opposition in Delhi assembly Jagdish Mukhi and senior leader Harsharan Singh Balli are the other contenders for the post.
Trusted ally
The BJP is quite confident about defeating the rival Congress party, which has been in power in the city state for the past 10 years and its massive victory in last year's civic polls is being seen as an indicator of this.
The party has started the process of selecting its panel of candidates for all 80 assembly seats, although there are indications that the BJP may offer three-four seats to its trusted ally Shiromani Akali Dal. The two parties are partners in power in Punjab.
The idea behind accommodating the Akali Dal is to corner the Sikh vote that play a decisive role in quite a few constituencies, especially in west Delhi. The BJP on its own would also field at least half a dozen Sikh candidates.
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