Three days after she was seen scolding party workers for “murmuring” and instructing them to listen to what she had to say at her introductory speech in the Delhi BJP office, former IPS officer Kiran Bedi’s supporters held up posters that stated ‘Prime Minister Modi, Chief Minister Kiran Bedi’ when they took out a road show in Rohini on Monday.
Ms. Bedi, former member of Team Anna, was inducted into the BJP in the presence of party chief Amit Shah last Thursday and has since projected herself as the chief ministerial candidate. She was welcomed in front of several senior leaders of the State unit, many of whom have worked hard over the years to rise up the ranks, and some aspiring for the chief ministerial post.
The former cop’s sudden ‘parachuting’ into the BJP and her projections as its chief ministerial candidate has led to backlash within the party which the party high command has immediately tried to quash. Senior BJP leaders in the Delhi unit admitted to The Hindu that they had been sidelined and not kept in the loop on what was happening within the party. One leader even expressed surprise over the former Congress Minister, Krishna Tirath, joining the party on Monday.
Yet, with elections round the corner, there is no scope for dissent. The BJP brass forced Member of Parliament from North East Delhi Manoj Tiwari to retract the statements he had made against Ms. Bedi in Ranchi. Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Mr. Tiwari had said that “she [Ms. Bedi] is like a party worker and she should be taken that way” and as of now the “best option” would be to project Narendra Modi as the party’s face in the campaign.
On Monday, however, Mr. Tiwari changed his statement: “All these reports are completely wrong, we are very happy that Kiranji has joined BJP, we welcome her.”
While another senior Delhi BJP leader who is known to have chief ministerial ambitions said a decision on whether the party would announce a CM face before the polls would be taken by the leadership, sources said a number of party MPs were upset at the way Ms. Bedi asked them to join her for tea on Sunday to discuss the party’s election strategy.
“We are seeing every BJP leader meeting Kiran Bediji, smiling, exchanging bouquets and this is what happens. Where does anyone read any kind of discontent? There is absolutely no discontent,” said a party spokesperson.
