Former Union Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party national general secretary Vijay Goel was on Friday nominated as president of the party’s Delhi unit by national president Rajnath Singh.
Mr. Goel, for his part, said: “The party leadership has entrusted me with enormous responsibility in an election year. Delhi faces enormous problems today like law and order, traffic, etc., and my first priority will be fighting for the rights of the people of Delhi and to provide them with facilities and amenities they deserve.”
With the development, the BJP has unofficially kick-started its campaign for the Delhi Assembly elections, due later this year. Mr. Goel had won the Lok Sabha elections from Delhi thrice and served in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s Council of Ministers and in the BJP central party.
Though he was among the major contenders for the post in 2010, he was tipped by Rohini councillor Vijender Gupta, who had the backing of some party stalwarts. But despite BJP winning the elections to the three Delhi Municipal Corporations in 2012, Mr. Gupta was unable to hold on to his post for long.
A major reason for this, as it turns out, was that Mr. Goel never let his eyes off the goal of becoming the Delhi BJP president. He kept organising protests against the Congress on his own. One such major protest by him was the rally at Ramlila Maidan, which was organised to protest against the failure of the Delhi Government to regularise unauthorised colonies. By getting almost the entire party central leadership on the stage, he had proved that he remained a force to reckon with in Delhi politics.
With Mr. Goel being given the reins of the party unit, the central leadership has also resolved a major ego tussle which was going on in the Delhi BJP. Mr. Gupta’s elevation to the post was resisted by various leaders, including party MLAs, who felt he was too “junior” for the post.
Mr. Goel is the son of former Delhi Speaker Charti Lal.
