Putting an end to the suspense surrounding the choice of the chief ministerial candidate for the Delhi Assembly elections, slated to be held on February 7, the BJP on Monday named super cop Kiran Bedi as its choice for the top job.
The announcement by the BJP top brass will help quell all dissent that had been brewing in the State unit for the last few days ever since Bedi joined the saffron party. Bedi will take on SK Bagga of the AAP and Congress' Bansi lal from Krishna Nagar.
The party also announced candidates for 62 seats and the list has as many as six women candidates, apart from 13 Dalit nominees and more than 20 young faces.
Youth leader and former president of DUSU Nupur Sharma will take on AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal in New Delhi. The party did not field Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay for the elections saying that the State unit chief should lead the poll process.
New entrants to the party had a field day as former Union Minister Krishna Tirath, who joined the BJP on Monday, was given a ticket from Patel Nagar. Former Speaker and AAP leader MS Dhir, who too joined the BJP a few months ago, will contest against Congress candidate Talwinder Singh Marwah and AAP's Praveen Deshmukh from Jangpura. AAP rebel Vinod Kumar Binny will take on the second-in-command of the AAP, Manish Sisodia, in Patparganj.
Senior BJP leader Jagdish Mukhi, who was at one time being considered for the Chief Minister's post, is being fielded again from Janakpuri, where he will face his son-in-law Suresh Kumar, who is the Congress candidate.
The party has pitted Pravin Jain against Congress heavyweight Ajay Maken, who was recently appointed as Congress Campaign Committee chairman, from Sadar Bazaar.
Former Delhi BJP chief Vijender Gupta, who had contested against Kejriwal in New Delhi earlier, will be contesting from Rohini. He will take on Congress’ Sukhbir Sharma and AAP’s Charanji lal Gupta.
Perhaps the strongest nominee among all contenders, the newly-inducted Bedi, who also has the distinction of being the first woman IPS officer, would be contesting from the Krishna Nagar seat in the February 7 Assembly polls which is the BJP’s stronghold and from where Union Minister Harsh Vardhan fought until the last elections.
The BJP’s Parliamentary Board’s decision to announce Bedi as its chief ministerial candidate is a complete departure from its earlier stand of relying solely on Prime Minister Modi as the face of the party wherever it goes to polls. It is obvious that the BJP is trying to cash in on the clean image and popularity of Bedi. The decision primarily aims at countering Arvind Kejriwal with whom she had parted ways following formation of the AAP.
However, the announcement was on expected lines as Bedi had assumed the centre stage as soon as she was inducted into the party four days ago, leading to some voices of dissent emerging within the party.
Earlier in the day the BJP top brass pulled up MP Manoj Tiwari for hitting out at Bedi on Sunday.
Tiwari was quoted by a TV channel as saying on Sunday: “I didn’t like the way she spoke to BJP workers a few days ago. I wasn’t there...but this is the feedback I’ve got from workers. She should be humble. She has been brought on as a BJP worker. She is not the Chief Ministerial candidate so far.”
He was further quoted as saying, “We don’t need someone like a policeman. We need a leader who can take everyone along.”
Following his comments on Bedi, the Minister was summoned by senior BJP leaders for voicing his dissent after an upset Bedi called the party leadership.
On Monday, the young leader sought to play down his earlier comments by saying, “We are very happy that Kiran Bedi has joined the BJP, we welcome her.”
Calling the decision “unanimous”, BJP president Amit Shah announced 65-year-old Bedi as the party’s CM candidate after a marathon meeting of the Central Election Committee and the Parliamentary Board of the party.
Shah, while declaring her name was all praises for her and highlighted her role as an anti-corruption crusader, a social activist and boasted about her academic credentials.
Bedi, who was in Rohini after concluding her first road show, was called to the BJP headquarters at Ashoka Road where Shah made the announcement.
He said the BJP would contest the “crucial polls” for the 70-member Assembly under Bedi’s leadership and also made her the chief of the BJP’s poll campaign.
The Parliamentary Board meeting was attended by Prime Minister Narendra
Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj among others.