Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal reiterated reiterated the claim that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is set to announce former MP and candidate from Kalkaji assembly constituency, Ramesh Bidhuri as its chief ministerial candidate for Delhi assembly elections and challenged him to a public debate. Kejriwal further congratulated the BJP leader and asked him for his vision for the national capital. He also invited him to have an open debate on the development issues once the BJP officially announces the decision.
In response to Kejriwal’s claim, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said AAP chief has accepted loosing Delhi election to BJP and so trying to create confusion. He challenged Kejriwal who is promoting himself as CM candidate to take legal opinion from a advocate and understand that he can't ever be sworn in as CM in view of Supreme Court bindings.
“We are getting information that Ramesh Bidhuri’s name will be officially announced as the BJP CM face in the coming days. I congratulate him on this decision. Bidhuri should tell Delhiites what he has done for the city’s development as an MP and share his vision for the national capital,” said Kejriwal, addressing a press conference. He said that the party will wait for Bidhuri’s official announcement, likely in a day or two, and then it will see what happens next. “Ultimately, the people will decide who is right and who is wrong,” he concluded.
Kejriwal said that AAP had projected him as the chief ministerial candidate long before the elections. The Delhi elections are approaching. During elections, everyone wants to know who the Chief Ministerial candidate from each party is. From the Aam Aadmi Party's side, this has been clear from the beginning. The entire party had decided unanimously that I, Arvind Kejriwal, would be the Chief Ministerial candidate,” the AAP leader said.
He also said that the people would decide which chief ministerial candidate would be right for them in the February 8 elections.
Kejriwal said that as for the BJP it wasn’t clear who their candidate would be. “Yesterday, their Central Election Committee held a meeting. According to sources, it has been learned that the BJP may have decided in that meeting to nominate Bidhuri as their Chief Ministerial candidate. It is being said, as per sources, that an official announcement about Ramesh Bidhuri’s name will be made within a day or two.”
Earlier, AAP leader and Delhi Chief Minister Atishi also weighed in on the matter, claiming that Bidhuri’s selection as the BJP’s CM candidate is a reward for his alleged abusive remarks. She referred to the BJP as the “Gaali Galauch (abusive) Party” and accused Bidhuri of being its “most abusive leader.”
On January 4, Bidhuri sparked controversy by promising to develop roads in Kalkaji like Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's "cheeks". This triggered a response from the Congress leader, who called Bidhuri's remarks "ridiculous" and "irrelevant". Following the row, Bidhuri expressed regret about his comments. On the same day, he stoked another row while referring to Delhi Chief Minister Atishi's decision to stop using her surname 'Marlena'. "Marlena has become Singh. She has changed her father. She was Marlena earlier, but has become Singh now," Bidhuri said.
