New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is massively leading on over 40 of the 70 assembly seats and is likely to form government in the national capital Delhi after 27 years, show early trends. Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP is ahead on just 26 seats with the party mired in alleged corruption and 10 years of anti-incumbency.
With the new equation in place in Delhi, a search is surely underway on the next BJP chief minister in Delhi. There are a number of probables in the BJP camp who are in the race for Delhi CM. Some of these names include Bansuri Swaraj, daughter of late Union Minister Sushma Swaraj, former MP Ramesh Bihuri and Pravesh Verma, son of late BJP leader and Delhi CM Sahib Singh Verma.
Likely BJP candidates for Delhi CM Post
Ramesh Bidhuri: A former MP and firebrand BJP leader, he is current contesting from Kalkaji Assembly seat against APP Chief Minister Atishi. Bidhuri comes from the Gurjar community and is a prominent leader in the BJP. He stirred controversy when he used communal slurs against former MP BSP Danish Ali in the Parliament.
Dushyant Gautam: Another contender for Delhi CM’s post is Dushyant Gautam, who is contesting Delhi Assembly polls from Karol Bagh seat. Gautam is BJP’s national general secretary and comes from the Dalit community. Gautam has been active in student politics and served as Rajya Sabha MP.
Parvesh Verma: He is the son of late Delhi Chief Minister of Delhi, Sahib Singh Verma. Verma is contesting from the high profile New Delhi seat against former AAP CM Arvind Kejriwal. If he manages to defeat Kejriwal, Verma would emerge as a giant killer in these assembly polls and is likely to lay claim to Delhi CM post.
Former union minister and MP, Smriti Irani may also be considered for the Delhi CM post. Since her Lok Sabha defeat from Amethi in UP, she has been absent from the political circles.
Bansuri Swaraj, daughter of late BJP leader and Union Minister Sushma Swaraj, who also served as Delhi Chief Minister, may also be in the race for Delhi CM post, according to some reports. She is currently an MP from the New Delhi constituency. She may get opportunity to wear the crown of Delhi CM despite not being in the fray in Delhi Assembly elections.
Keeping in view BJP’s track record of throwing surprising for electing chief ministers, nothing can be surely predicted said about the likeliness of these chief ministerial candidates. The case in point are CMs of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana.
