Once Delhi CM probable, Mukhi made Andaman & Nicobar LG

With the appointment of Jagdish Mukhi as the Lieutenant Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, all the Chief Ministerial ‘candidates’ of Delhi BJP are now placed on Central assignments. Mukhi emerged as the Chief Ministerial candidate of the BJP to form a coalition government during the suspension of the Delhi Legislative Assembly after the resignation of Arvind Kejriwal.

Mukhi in his last assignment in Delhi served as the Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Legislative Assembly during the Congress regime in Delhi. He also represented the Janakpuri Assembly constituency consecutively from 1980 but was defeated in 2015 by AAP candidate Rajesh Rishi.

He was also awarded with the best MLA award. 

Mukhi served as the Finance Minister during the five year tenure of the BJP in Delhi from 1993 to 1998. In this period, BJP changed three Chief Ministers but Mukhi retained the post of the finance minister. 

Mukhi also qualified for the prestigious Indian Police Service (IPS) but quit the job in the middle of the training and joined the battle against Emergency. An alumni of Shri Ram College of Commerce, Mukhi started his career as a teacher in Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, Delhi University. As the then finance minister, he is credited with several reforms like the commissioning of the Delhi Metro, and GGS Indraprastha University.

After receiving appreciation for his contribution in winning the Haryana Assembly elections for BJP, 

Mukhi was expecting the party to declare him the Chief Ministerial candidate in 2015 against Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal but BJP choose Kejriwal’s former aide and ex-IPS officer Kiran Bedi as its face. Bedi lost the safest seat of Delhi BJP from Krishna Nagar. She has now been made Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry.

BJP’s Chief Ministerial candidate in the 2013 Delhi Assembly elections, Dr Harsh Vardhan who is presently the Union Minister for Science and Technology was the first CM candidate of the party to get a Central assignment as the Union Health Minister. 

Vijay Goel, whom the party sent to Rajya Sabha before the 2015 Delhi Assembly elections, was recently inducted in the Central government as the Minister of State for Sports and Youth Affairs. Goel was the main contestant for the BJP’s CM candidate in 2013 but was replaced by Harsh Vardhan.