Goel holds out threat, BJP goes into a huddle
21 Oct 2013 5:46 AM IST
Delhi BJP president Vijay Goel on Sunday openly threatened to bring down the house if anybody other than him was declared the party’s chief ministerial candidate.
Goel left the party’s central election committee meeting midway on Sunday holding out the threat that he would sabotage party’s chances if a move was made to undermine his position. Incidentally, the election committee is headed by BJP’s PM candidate Narendra Modi, who was present when Goel held out the threat.
Party’s top brass including Modi and party president Rajnath Singh failed to overcome Goel’s resistance to the move to make former Delhi BJP president and a popular face Harshvardhan as its chief ministerial candidate. Goel returned to party headquarters at 11 Ashoka Road later in the evening to meet organisation secretary Ram Lal. It may not have been a mere coincidence that he came back only after a decision had been taken to defer the move.
The inability of the BJP brass to take a decision on the pretext of waiting for the return of leader of opposition, Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley to come to a consensus on the issue, showed that Goel, for time being, had managed to browbeat his detractors. Despite claims and counterclaims between the BJP and the Aam Admi Party (AAP) over who was Dikshit’s main opponent in the upcoming polls, a consensus has evolved within the BJP brass that the party was fast losing ground to social activist Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP.
Senior party leaders including Delhi BJP in-charge and former president Nitin Gadkari are of the view that Goel has failed to match not only Dikshit but also Kejriwal as the face of the party’s campaign. Gadkari’s view has found backing from other senior party leaders with the exception of party president Rajnath Singh, who was instrumental in making Goel Delhi unit president earlier this year despite stiff opposition from local leaders and the RSS.
Delhi goes to polls on 4 December to elect its 70-member Assembly. The gazette notification for the polls would be released on 9 November setting the process on. The results would be declared on 8 December.
Goel left the party’s central election committee meeting midway on Sunday holding out the threat that he would sabotage party’s chances if a move was made to undermine his position. Incidentally, the election committee is headed by BJP’s PM candidate Narendra Modi, who was present when Goel held out the threat.
Party’s top brass including Modi and party president Rajnath Singh failed to overcome Goel’s resistance to the move to make former Delhi BJP president and a popular face Harshvardhan as its chief ministerial candidate. Goel returned to party headquarters at 11 Ashoka Road later in the evening to meet organisation secretary Ram Lal. It may not have been a mere coincidence that he came back only after a decision had been taken to defer the move.
The inability of the BJP brass to take a decision on the pretext of waiting for the return of leader of opposition, Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley to come to a consensus on the issue, showed that Goel, for time being, had managed to browbeat his detractors. Despite claims and counterclaims between the BJP and the Aam Admi Party (AAP) over who was Dikshit’s main opponent in the upcoming polls, a consensus has evolved within the BJP brass that the party was fast losing ground to social activist Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP.
Senior party leaders including Delhi BJP in-charge and former president Nitin Gadkari are of the view that Goel has failed to match not only Dikshit but also Kejriwal as the face of the party’s campaign. Gadkari’s view has found backing from other senior party leaders with the exception of party president Rajnath Singh, who was instrumental in making Goel Delhi unit president earlier this year despite stiff opposition from local leaders and the RSS.
Delhi goes to polls on 4 December to elect its 70-member Assembly. The gazette notification for the polls would be released on 9 November setting the process on. The results would be declared on 8 December.
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