Delhi Polls: Chief Ministerial (CM) Faces

By Deepak Parvatiyar

November 25, 2014

Who will be the next chief minister of Delhi? It is a matter of conjecture at present as the X factor is at play this time with none of the political parties barring the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), revealing any names, preferring to play their cards close to their chest.

Arvind Kejriwal: Battling Narendra Modi Factor

It would, indeed, be interesting that after having lost to Narendra Modi in the summer Lok Sabha elections from Varanasi, AAP’s CM candidate Arvind Kejriwal is again virtually pitted against Modi after the BJP refrained from projecting any CM candidate in Delhi and instead decided to contest on the plank of “good governance” of the Modi government at the Centre. This ploy had worked in Maharashtra and Haryana earlier and in Delhi too it is also likely to help the party keep a united face during elections.

Kejriwal does seem fighting against the odds in the wake of prominent leaders deserting the party after the AAP’s complete rout in Delhi in the last General Elections where it could take lead in only 10 of the 70 Assembly segments. So, can he re-do December 2013 again when he emerged as a giant killer by defeating the then CM Shiela Dikshit of the Congress?

BJP: Refraining from Projecting any CM Candidate for Delhi

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• Assembly Constituencies of Delhi

The absence of any projected CM candidate in the coming elections is a marked departure from a prevailing practice of the BJP in Delhi. The BJP had won the first two state elections in the newly constituted Delhi state in 1993 and 1998. Thereafter, faction wars cost it the subsequent elections as the Congress under Shiela Dikshit took over the reins for the next 15 years.

Last time the party’s projection of Dr Harsh Vardhan as the party’s CM candidate did create a rift in the party by reportedly upsetting another strong contender for the post — Delhi BJP strongman, Vijay Goel, who in the process was also replaced by the doctor as the state BJP’s president.

Vijay Goel: Again in Race for the CM’s post

Much water has flown down the Yamuna since then. Dr Harsh Vardhan has been shifted to the Union Cabinet – first as the Union Health minister and after the reshuffle earlier this month, as Union Science and Technology minister. Goel, who had since been keeping a low profile, has become visibly active in the party affairs once again reportedly at the call of the BJP president, Amit Shah.

Already hoardings carrying his photo along with that of Shah and Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay, have come up outside the Delhi BJP office and many in the BJP interpret this as move to keep himself in contention for the CM’s post.

Yet, whether Goel can regain the confidence of the party high command is to be seen particularly after the haste in which he was unceremoniously replaced by Dr Harsh Vardhan as the Delhi BJP chief on the election eve in 2013, and given the fact that only this year, the party made him a Rajya Sabha member from Rajasthan!

Dr Harsh Vardhan: A Strong Contender for CM’s Post

What would be interesting to see is that whether the BJP brings back Dr Harsh Vardhan to state politics again.

Much is being made of the amiable doctor’s change in portfolio after the cabinet reshuffle. Whether it was because of Modi’s dissatisfaction with his performance as the Union health minister to shift him to a less significant ministry, or, a tactical ploy so as to enable him concentrate more on Delhi elections, is anybody’s guess.

Other Names of CM Hopefuls doing the rounds in BJP

However, like in the past, the BJP faces the problem of plenty this time too. There are veterans such as Professor Jagdish Mukhi, seasoned leaders such as Dr Harsh Vardhan and Goel as well, and promising leaders such as the state party chief Satish Upadhyay and the party national secretary Dr Anil Jain, a renowned Laparoscopic surgeon and a former RSS pracharak with proven organisational skills.

Besides, names of three formidable ladies – a suave Smriti Irani, party spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi and former IPS officer Kiran Bedi – too have sprung up in certain quarters in the BJP as the CM’s choice.

Irani’s name along with Bedi’s was doing rounds in 2013 also. However, she was rather chosen by the party as its candidate against the Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi in Amethi during the Lok Sabha elections. Although she lost, she was handpicked by Modi and made the Union HRD minister. She, however, has courted enough controversy ever since over her educational qualification that did force her to be on a backfoot for some time.

Bedi’s name sprung up this time also but she has outrightly rejected any possibility of her joining politics. As for Lekhi, she had won the last general elections by defeating Congress strongman Ajay Maken. She seems a formidable candidate for the post in case the BJP decides to opt for a female CM.

Isn’t it strange that the AAP’s CM aspirant Kejriwal was rather too eager to give the impending election a Kejriwal versus Mukhi twist? Obviously Mukhi has been a big name in Delhi politics. He had been the leader of the Opposition in the state assembly between 2003 and 2008 and had earlier served as a minister in the state between 1993 and 1998.

However, Mukhi, 72, may have the age factor against him – given Modi’s thrust on youth and also his ‘below 75’ rule. (In case the BJP wins and Mukhi becomes the CM, he would be well beyond 75 before the end of his term).

The age factor affects the prospects of octogenarian Vijay Kumar Malhotra too.

Of the party’s young Turks, Upadhyay’s had been a phenomenal rise particularly after the General Elections till he courted controversy recently after photographs emerged that garbage was deliberately littered on the posh Lodhi Road locality so as to provide him a photo op as he cleaned it as part of a Swachh Bharat campaign.

Dr Anil Jain: Another Strong CM Face

Yet one of the dark horses to emerge in the BJP for the CM’s coveted post is the Delhi-based doctor, Anil Jain. If party insiders are to be believed, the 54-year-old medical practitioner has emerged as a frontrunner for the Delhi CM’s post after his stupendous showing as party’s co-incharge of Haryana where the BJP was able to form its government for the first time after the recently concluded state elections. Soon after the elections, he was made the full fledged in-charge of the BJP’s Haryana affairs in place of Kailash Vijayvargia. Earlier, when he was co-incharge of the party’s affairs in Uttarakhand between 2007 and 2010, the BJP had won all the three Assembly and one Lok Sabha by-elections in the state and also done splendidly in the local bodies, zilla panchayat and cooperative elections. Being a former pracharak, he has considerable Sangh support too. But can he spring a surprise is to be seen. Like in Haryana, where Modi favoured a former RSS pracharak – Manohar Lal Khattar – as the CM, will Modi opt for another former RSS pracharak in Delhi?

Congress: No Visible CM Candidate

The beleaguered Congress on its part does face a leadership crisis in the city-state after the fall of its tallest leader and three-time CM, Shiela Dikshit in the last elections. Will she again be projected as the next CM by the Congress is yet to be seen but if she opts out then it would certainly create a huge vacuum in the state Congress – still struggling to come to terms with its ouster from power not just in Delhi but also at the Centre following the General Elections, and in Maharashtra as well as Haryana. Any further setback to it in the ensuing Jharkhand and Jammu & Kashmir Assembly elections would have an impact on the party’s bid to regroup as a force before the Delhi elections.