In a statement issued on Wednesday, the party’s in charge for Delhi, Nitin Gadkari, said that the meeting of the central parliamentary board would take a final call on the issue.
Meanwhile, city BJP president Vijay Goel on Wednesday told the media, ‘A delegation of the vice-presidents of the city BJP met Rajnath Singh on Wednesday and gave its opinion on leadership and some other issues.’ As all the vice-presidents, state and district level office bearers of the party were hand-picked by Goel, they, according to sources, are lobbying hard to get Goel nominated as the chief ministerial candidate, or at least, convince the members of the central parliamentary board to maintain status quo.
Goel, through these office bearers, effectively controls the party cadre right up to the booth level, as appointments of office bearers in 14 districts largely depends on district presidents, who were in turn handpicked by Goel just days after his appointment as city BJP chief.
‘The chief ministerial candidate for Delhi will be a choice of party workers and central parliamentary board is the only competent authority to finalise and announce the name,’ said Vijay Goel, issuing a veiled threat to the leadership at a press conference on Wednesday. When asked about the names of the possible candidate for the post, Goel said, ‘The name is known to everybody and it is clear in all the opinion polls and election surveys.’ He further added that all the opinion polls so far, have predicted win of BJP and defeat of Congress.
‘I have already sent the reports of these onion polls to the senior leaders of the party including Nitin Gadkari,’ he added. Sources said MLAs, councillors, and prominent leaders in the party have conveyed their consent on the name of former health minister Harshvardhan. ‘We will accept the decision of parliamentary board on the name of CM candidate and work to dethrone the Congress government,’ said Aarti Mehra, former Delhi Mayor and national secretary of BJP confirming that she is not in the race.
As reported earlier, majority of members in the central parliamentary board are in favour of declaring Harshvardhan as CM candidate because of his clean image. In the 12-member central parliamentary board of BJP, leader of opposition Sushma Swaraj and party veteran L K Advani are staunch supporters of Harshvardhan. Earlier, Rajnath Singh too had a tough time convincing Swaraj to appoint Goel as the president of Delhi BJP.
Meanwhile, city BJP president Vijay Goel on Wednesday told the media, ‘A delegation of the vice-presidents of the city BJP met Rajnath Singh on Wednesday and gave its opinion on leadership and some other issues.’ As all the vice-presidents, state and district level office bearers of the party were hand-picked by Goel, they, according to sources, are lobbying hard to get Goel nominated as the chief ministerial candidate, or at least, convince the members of the central parliamentary board to maintain status quo.
Goel, through these office bearers, effectively controls the party cadre right up to the booth level, as appointments of office bearers in 14 districts largely depends on district presidents, who were in turn handpicked by Goel just days after his appointment as city BJP chief.
‘The chief ministerial candidate for Delhi will be a choice of party workers and central parliamentary board is the only competent authority to finalise and announce the name,’ said Vijay Goel, issuing a veiled threat to the leadership at a press conference on Wednesday. When asked about the names of the possible candidate for the post, Goel said, ‘The name is known to everybody and it is clear in all the opinion polls and election surveys.’ He further added that all the opinion polls so far, have predicted win of BJP and defeat of Congress.
‘I have already sent the reports of these onion polls to the senior leaders of the party including Nitin Gadkari,’ he added. Sources said MLAs, councillors, and prominent leaders in the party have conveyed their consent on the name of former health minister Harshvardhan. ‘We will accept the decision of parliamentary board on the name of CM candidate and work to dethrone the Congress government,’ said Aarti Mehra, former Delhi Mayor and national secretary of BJP confirming that she is not in the race.
As reported earlier, majority of members in the central parliamentary board are in favour of declaring Harshvardhan as CM candidate because of his clean image. In the 12-member central parliamentary board of BJP, leader of opposition Sushma Swaraj and party veteran L K Advani are staunch supporters of Harshvardhan. Earlier, Rajnath Singh too had a tough time convincing Swaraj to appoint Goel as the president of Delhi BJP.