The day on which the Congress party held elections to decide on its North-East Delhi candidate and the Aam Aadmi Party’s Chandni Chowk candidate Ashutosh began actively campaigning in his constituency, the third player in the triangular fight -- the BJP – instead chose to harp on the AAP’s 49-day rule and the 18-points put forth by its convener Arvind Kejriwal last December.
Delhi BJP chief Harsh Vardhan on Tuesday told reporters that he decided to revisit the 18 points put forth by Mr. Kejriwal and that “the AAP had not provided any solutions” to the city’s problems.
He mentioned how the AAP has been “backtracking” on doing away with VIP culture, its failed attempts at holding a public darbar and the way Mr. Kejriwal tried to get the Jan Lokpal Bill passed in the Delhi Assembly.
Yet, with less than a month for the Lok Sabha polls in the city, Dr. Harsh Vardhan made no mention of a candidate list for the elections and when prodded by journalists said that “no single person will fight these elections but the entire BJP machinery will fight together” to ensure a 7-0 win for the party. “We will not fight these elections without candidates, don’t worry,” he told reporters, in a lighter vein.
Earlier this week, the central leadership assured the Delhi unit that the list of Lok Sabha candidates will be declared by March 13, two days before the nominations can be filed for the April 10 polls. Delay in declaring the candidates ahead of the Delhi Assembly polls last year was seen by many party workers as the reason BJP failed to gain a clear majority and form a government.
While the names of Meenakshi Lekhi, Subramaniam Swamy, Nirmala Sitharaman, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Mahesh Giri and others are doing the rounds for the seven parliamentary seats here, some Delhi leaders have expressed preference for local candidates, including sitting MLAs, over outsiders.
