A day after the high voltage drama over the issue of Chief Ministerial candidate for December 4 elections, Delhi BJP president Vijay Goel on Monday took a defensive stance and said that he has never pitched for his candidature during the eight months of his tenure as the State unit chief.
Amidst much curiosity over his plan of action, Goel denied having made such a demand; although he maintained that the party high command must decide all ‘contentious’ issues at the earliest. He was referring to the announcement of the Chief Ministerial candidate as also the candidates for the 70 Assembly constituencies. “I am not a candidate for any post. The Parliamentary Board will take a decision on the issue after considering the views of senior party workers. In the past eight months I have neither named myself nor anyone else,” he said addressing a Press conference at the Constitution Club and not the party office, which is the usual venue of his Press briefings. This had led to speculations since that Goel might make some revelations pertaining to his future course of action.
Goel said the party must decide on all poll-related issues in order to save the party from damages. Goel’s comments came a day after he met the top brass of BJP, including Rajnath Singh and Narendra Modi, pressing for announcing his name for the post of CM. He also rejected reports that he had threatened to resign from the post of Delhi BJP president if former State unit president Harsh Vardhan was named as the CM candidate. “I have never threatened to resign,” he said.
When pressed whether he will continue to work if the Parliamentary Board decides to project Vardhan for the Chief Minister’s position, he said he will be able to react only after the decision is made. “Party is supreme. Nothing happens on the basis of what I say. Party will take the final call,” he said. A number of senior Delhi leaders are understood to have conveyed to the party leadership that they should announce Vardhan as the CM candidate as he is believed to have wider acceptability among people, party leaders and workers besides having a clean image.
A number of senior Delhi leaders of the party have already conveyed to Central leaders their anguish over Goel’s comments at a Press conference last week projecting himself as BJP’s most popular face for the post of CM. It was also conveyed to Delhi election in-charge Nitin Gadkari that Goel has violated party discipline by openly projecting himself as the Chief Ministerial candidate. Gadkari has also maintained that the BJP Parliamentary Board will take the final decision on the issue.
Meanwhile, he trained his guns on Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit for belittling the Gujarat Government and making ‘false claims’ about the development of Delhi. Goel said the Congress-led Government has brought destruction to the city instead of development in the past 15 years. “Whether power tariff, transportation, road and infrastructure or any other area, Delhiites have only faced distress,” said Goel.
He added that it was time Dikshit realised that she had made several blunders, so she could step down as Chief Minister instead of seeking another chance from the people of the Capital. The State BJP president also raised around 15 questions to Dikshit, related to power, water, hospitals, slums, JJ clusters, public transport and housing among others.