New Delhi, Feb 12 A group of newly elected Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators met party President JP Nadda at his office in Parliament, even as speculation continues over who will be the next Chief Minister of Delhi, with the names of several leaders doing the rounds.
The BJP won the recently concluded Delhi Assembly elections, securing 48 seats in the 70-member House and ending a 27-year exile from the Capital.
However, the party contested the polls without a CM face, and though the BJP MLAs who met Nadda on Tuesday said it was a "courtesy call", conjecture continues to remain rife over who will be named to the top post.
Some of the names doing the rounds include Parvesh Verma, who defeated former CM Arvind Kejriwal from New Delhi, Shalimar Bagh MLA Rekha Gupta, Shikha Roy (Greater Kailash), Vijender Gupta (Rohini), Satish Upadhyay (Malviya Nagar), Ashish Sood (Janakpuri), Pawan Sharma (Uttam Nagar), Kapil Mishra (Karawal Nagar), and Abhay Verma (Laxmi Nagar), among others.
It must be noted that the BJP has several times chosen a CM who is an unexpected face — this has happened in Rajasthan, Haryana, and Madhya Pradesh — and such a possibility cannot be ruled out in Delhi.
"The MLAs thanked the party chief for his rallies and public meetings during the Assembly elections and also for the way the top leadership guided us in exposing the lies of Arvind Kejriwal. Whosoever the party picks as the Chief Minister will be acceptable to us," said an MLA.
On Wednesday morning, the BJP's election management committee for the Delhi polls — party election in-charge Baijayant Panda, Delhi BJP Chief Virendra Sachdeva, and the seven Delhi Lok Sabha MPs, among others — will huddle together at the Delhi BJP office to discuss a raft of issues, including the strength and weakness of the party during the elections, and how it performed in various pockets.
The leaders also reiterated that the CM's name will be finalised only after Prime Minister Narendra Modi — who is travelling to France and the United States — returns to India on February 14 or 15.
"The BJP legislature party is likely to meet after PM Modi returns from his visit to France and the US. The name of the new CM will be subsequently announced by the party leadership," the Delhi BJP leader said.
To be sure, Delhi MLAs, during a recent visit with senior party leaders including B.L. Santhosh, were asked to refrain from remarking on who they think could be the next CM.
The leaders said the Delhi cabinet under the BJP government will have a balance of different sections of society, and will likely have representation from the Jat, Dalit, Purvanchali, Sikh, Pahari, and Baniya communities.
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