The new president of the Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party Satish Upadhyay assumed charge on Saturday at the Pandit Pant Marg office. The function was marked with religiosity and much cheer among the party workers.
Malviya Nagar councillor Satish Upadhyay was escorted into his chambers by a priest chanting prayers and was later showered with rose petals by the outgoing president Dr. Harsh Vardhan.
The function saw the party’s top leadership participate with the national general secretary (organisation) Ramlal even indicating the likelihood of fresh elections to the Delhi Legislative Assembly. He urged the leaders and workers who were present to “repeat the magical performance” of the recent Lok Sabha polls.
Soon after his name was announced as the new president, Mr. Upadhyay had said that he would discuss the issue of elections or government formation with his party colleagues and MLAs and the same would be conveyed to the BJP’s central leadership. On Saturday, he said that he was “very grateful to the party for the respect given to me and I assure my colleagues that I will work as the trustee of the party and not as a president”.
The party will work towards strengthening the youth and women units of the party he said and added, “the youth have a different way of thinking and they can give the party a new direction in understanding issues.” Mr. Upadhyay told journalists that the senior leaders of Delhi BJP will in fact meet students from Delhi University and JNU and discuss their concerns and expectations from the municipal bodies. “The thrust will be on issue-based, development-oriented politics,” he said.
Mr. Upadhyay’s family was also present on Saturday at the Delhi BJP’s headquarters. His wife, Aarti Upadhyay said for over a month there were speculations on whether her husband will be named as the party chief. “It has been hectic since the time his name was announced as party chief. I make sure that I support him by freeing him entirely from any household chores so he can focus his energies on the party,” she said. “We both are mentally prepared for the challenges that we will face in the coming months.”
His three children, Sumedha, Shivka and Raghav, also expressed their joy at their father taking over as the new Delhi BJP chief. “We often talk about politics around the dinner table. My sister and I are both lawyers and we love debating with dad,” said Sumedha. “Sometimes we disagree with him on things but other times we ask him to explain concepts we don’t understand,” she said.