The tussle between Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay and West Delhi MP Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma on the Mehrauli seat has delayed the selection of candidates for the upcoming bypolls in the national Capital. However, despite some factions being against the move on grounds of promoting dynastic politics, the BJP seems to have finalised Vikram Bidhuri as the candidate from the Tughlakabad seat. Besides, sources said that the candidate from Krishna Nagar is expected to be a close confidant of former five-time MlA from the area and now Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan.
The three leaders — its State unit in-charge Prabhat Jha, organisation secretary Vijay Sharma and Delhi chief Satish Upadhyay — appointed by BJP’s election committee met again on Sunday to deliberate on the names for the other two seats. The party is expected to announce the names formally on Monday. For Krishna Nagar, councillor from the area Kalpana Jain and councillor from Anarkali ward Jai Gopal are relying on natural claim to be nominated for the seat. But, two other names — Sandeep Kapoor and Anil Goel — are also doing the rounds for this seat in East Delhi as they claim to have support of Vardhan. They had worked intensively for the Union Health Minister during the Assembly and lok Sabha elections. BJP’s State vice president Kuljeet Chahal is also among the contenders for this seat.
The saffron party seems to be treading cautiously for selecting a candidate for the Mehrauli seat. “There has been a lot of brainstorming for Mehrauli constituency. West Delhi MP Parvesh Verma wants a say in the selection of candidate for the seat and he is not too much in favour of the Delhi BJP chief being nominated. South Delhi MP Ramesh Bidhuri and East Delhi MP Harsh Vardhan could have a say in choosing candidates for Tughlakabad and Krishna Nagar seats,” said a party insider. However, Satish Upadhyay still seems to be the frontrunner for the seat while the names of Vijay Jolly and South Delhi mayor Sarita Chaudhary are also doing the rounds.
It is also pertinent to note that out of the three seats, Mehrauli seems to be only a new stronghold of the BJP. Bidhuri has been winning Tughlakabad seat for three consecutive times, and Harsh Vardhan has won Krishna Nagar five times. However, BJP won Mehrauli for the first time only last year when it fielded Parvesh Verma, its Jat face. Verma vacated the seat after being elected MP from West Delhi.