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New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has named veteran leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra as its chief ministerial candidate for the upcoming Delhi assembly elections.
Party general secretary Arun Jaitley on Friday said that Malhotra, BJP's deputy leader in Lok Sabha, would be projected as the BJP's chief ministerial candidate. A decision to this effect was taken at the Parliamentary Board meeting earlier in the morning.
Delhi is among half a dozen states slated to go to polls later this year. Besides Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jammu and Kashmir and Mizoram are to elect their new legislative assemblies this year.
Jaitley also said that the incumbent chief ministers Vasundhara Raje Scindia, Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Dr Raman Singh would be its chief ministerial candidates for Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh respectively.
Malhotra, who would turn 77 in December this year, currently represents South Delhi seat in Lok Sabha.
Interestingly, the ruling Congress party has said that it would not project anyone as its chief ministerial candidate in any of the poll-bound states, posing a question over future of Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit, who has been in the post for the past decade.
BJP infighting
BJP's decision to name Malhotra, who has the distinction of defeating Prime Minister Manmohan Singh from South Delhi seat in 1999 general elections, was not that easy considering presence of at least three other aspirants.
Although Jaitley and former chief minister Sushma Swaraj expressed their reluctance to become Delhi chief minister for different reasons, intense infighting was reported from within the BJP with the party's national secretary Vijay Goel, Delhi BJP chief Dr Harshvardhan and leader of opposition in Delhi assembly Jagdish Mukhi indulging in lobbying for the prized post.
Both Harshvardhan and Mukhi were present when Jaitley announced Malhotra's name for the post
Man of stature
Malhotra was preferred over others since he has the stature and experience to lead the party in the elections. He served as the chief executive councillor from 1967 to 1972 in the Delhi Metropolitan Council, which preceded the Delhi Legislative Assembly.
He served as member of the Metropolitan Council twice and was also member of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi for two terms. He served one term as the Rajya Sabha member and is currently serving his fourth term as a member of Lok Sabha.
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