Doctor Saab now a Cabinet Minister
Delhi BJP president and Chandni Chowk MP Dr Harsh Vardhan became the sole representative of the national Capital in the Union Cabinet formed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday. Vardhan was sworn in as a Cabinet Minister in the new BJP-led Government prompting celebrations at the party headquarters and his residence in the Capital. Though his portfolio is yet to be decided, supporters in his constituency celebrated the moment with distribution of sweets and bursting of firecrackers.
The entire Chandni Chowk, which Vardhan represents in the lok Sabha, was illuminated with tricolour lamps. Hundreds of his constituents, particularly the traders, assembled near Town Hall closely watched the swearing-in ceremony live on a big lED screen installed there. Sources indicated he may be allotted the Health Ministry considering his remarkable contribution as the Health Minister of Delhi from 1993 to 1998. In the previous UPA Government, there were three Ministers from the national Capital.
However, Vardhan’s elevation as a Cabinet Minister has essentially necessitated a reshuffle in the Delhi BJP as the party teams up for the next Assembly polls in the State. Vardhan, who is the currently the president of Delhi BJP, will have to vacate the post as the party constitution prohibits a leader from holding two positions simultaneously. Hectic lobbying has already started within the party for the president’s post and subsequently projecting themselves as the chief ministerial candidate of BJP in Delhi.
Having emerged as the most popular BJP face in the Capital and the most acceptable figure within the party, Vardhan was preferred over the then State unit president Vijay Goel for the CM post in the 2013 Assembly polls. However, with another Assembly elections looming large, the BJP will have to find a replacement to Vardhan who drove the party very close to majority in the 70-member Delhi Assembly in December last year. Having emerged as the single largest party, the BJP failed to form the Government by a whisker. Vardhan took over as Delhi BJP president in February this year after Goel was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan.
Sources in the party said senior leader Jagdish Mukhi, former Delhi BJP president Vijender Gupta and former Mayor Arti Mehra and Delhi BJP vice president Ashish Sood are contending for the president’s post. Mukhi is also lobbying to be projected as party’s CM face in the upcoming polls, sources said.