Goel constitutes panels to subvert Vardhan’s rise

In a desperate attempt to assuage the feelings of his detractors, Delhi BJP president Vijay Goel has appointed two jumbo committees to oversee elections under his supervision. This has been also done to pre-empt any move to foist Dr Harsh Vardhan as chief ministerial candidate, sources said.

‘It is surprising that when the central leadership was pushing for setting up Election Campaign Committee under the Chairmanship of Dr Harsh Vardhan, state president chose to appoint two committees related to polls,’ said a party leader. While the first committee, called the Election Committee will have 24 members, Election Core Committee will have 54 members. It is not clear what would be the role of the two committees and whether they would work under or over the campaign Committee, which is yet to be constituted.

Party sources pointed out that Goel had earlier appointed his close friend Sudhanshu Mittal as convener of the Party Election Cell without the approval of the party’s central leadership. Mittal resigned a few days back when leaders from the central leadership did not approve of his appointment.

‘The politics of the constitution of two committees will unfold in the coming days. But sure the development will only widen the divide in state BJP rather than bridging the gap,’ added the leader. The 24 -member election committee will include Delhi assembly’s Leader of Opposition Vijay Kumar 

Malhotra, former health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, former Delhi BJP chief Vijender Gupta, former Delhi finance minister Prof Jagdish Mukhi, former east Delhi MP Lal Bihari Tiwari, Senior BJP leader OP Kohli and Pravesh Verma, son of late Saheb Singh Verma among others.

The members of jumbo 54-member election core group include former chief minister Madan Lal Khurana, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, Dr Harsh Vardhan, Mange Ram Garg, Vijender Gupta, former Mayor Aarti Mehra, Vani Tripathi, Vijay Jolly, Anita Arya, Kulwant Rana, Ramesh Bidhuri, Lal Bihari Tiwari and amongs several leaders.