New Delhi BJP president Harsh Vardhan is set for a tough road ahead as he is faced with several internal and external challenges. From dealing with the infighting among the cadres to containing the victory chariot of the Aam Aadmi Party, Vardhan has his platter full.
The biggest challenge before Vardhan will be to win maximum number of seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections to add to the pool of 272 — BJP’s target for 2014. ‘We will win all the seven seats in the city and voters in Delhi have made up their minds to make Narendra Modi the next prime minister of the country,’ said Vardhan. ‘AAP has been exposed before people and voters know that they are habitual liars. We will expose the corruption of Congress and betrayal of AAP in our door to door campaign,’ he added.
But the challenge posed by AAP cannot be taken easily as the party workers are filled with confidence after winning 28 out of the 70 assembly seats and also recent surveys are putting AAP ahead of BJP and Congress in the city.
Surveys have given AAP a majority of the Delhi seats in the upcoming elections. ‘In assembly elections, we were wrong in undermining AAP impact but now we are cautious,’ Vardhan contended. But, this time, the Lok Sabha election in Delhi will surely be triangular between BJP, AAP and Congress.
The challenge to keep the party united with a team appointed by former president Vijay Goel is also an uphill task as Vardhan has little time to conduct fresh internal elections in the party. All the vice-presidents and 14 district presidents are the product of Goel’s unilateral approach so it will be interesting to see how Vardhan deals with them. Vardhan will also have to deal with the aspirations of new generation politicians and their conflict with experienced leaders.
But it’s also a well established fact that Vardhan enjoys respect and confidence among party cadres. He has experience of leading the party thrice — 2003, 2005 and 2007 — and was also health and law minister in Delhi government from 1993-98.