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The BJP has convened a meeting of its general secretaries on Saturday, and the legislature party meeting is likely on Sunday. The CM-elect will be the leader of the legislature party as well. So, as speculated, if on Sunday the meeting takes place, who the…Read More
Prime Minister Narendra Modi being garlanded by BJP MPs Manoj Tiwari, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri and Bansuri Swaraj during celebrations at the BJP HQ after the party won the Delhi assembly election. (File image: PTI)
It was 2021 when, in a sudden but not unexpected move, Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani resigned. A change of guard in the Prime Minister’s home state was being speculated in political circles for quite a while. Frantic TV cameras followed who they thought were CM probables—union ministers Mansukh Mandaviya and Parshottam Rupala, former deputy CM Nitin Patel, and former state home minister Praful Khoda Patel. Away from the media glitz, a Patidar leader, who did not even dream of considering himself in the CM race, was holding a local meeting in his constituency. He could barely finish the meeting when he received a call to come to Shree Kamalam, as the BJP’s state headquarters in Gandhinagar is known. On reaching there—where a very senior BJP leader from the state was also present—the MLA, Bhupendra Patel, was told he was going to be Gujarat’s next chief minister, to his utter disbelief.
It took a formal announcement from the party and breaking out of a mini celebration for the simultaneous tracking of TV cameras to stop.
The Delhi election is no different. There are the obvious frontrunners—Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma who is the son of a former BJP CM and a “giant-slayer” after defeating Arvind Kejriwal, Vijender Gupta for being among the few winners when the party was nowhere to be seen, and Manjinder Singh Sirsa for being a minority face, Sikh to be precise, and someone known for his role during the Covid pandemic. But the only thing predictable about this BJP of Modi-Shah is its unpredictability. So, while usual names do the rounds as they do after every election win, one should not be surprised if the next Delhi chief minister is a first-time MLA like the BJP picked Bhajan Lal Sharma for Rajasthan in 2023. A video went viral in which Rajnath Singh handed over a chit to Vasundhara Raje containing Sharma’s name, suggesting that Raje had to propose Sharma’s name.
The former BJP chief minister of Rajasthan was at a party legislature meeting in Jaipur, seated next to Singh, the party observer for Rajasthan. While high-profile names were doing the rounds, she opened a slip of paper that he handed to her, containing Sharma’s name, which changed Raje’s facial expression. Overnight, a first-time MLA became the state’s chief minister.
While it has been the BJP’s practice to choose the CM from its pool of MLAs, there have been precedents where the party has brought leaders from outside the elected representatives and made them the chief minister, like in Haryana last year. A month before the Lok Sabha elections and six months before assembly polls in Haryana, to undo the anti-incumbency against the BJP government, the party replaced Manohar Lal Khattar with his protege and then Kurukshetra MP Nayab Singh Saini. In spite of being an MP, he was unanimously accepted as the CM in the legislature group. In a similar fashion, if the leadership deems fit, it can bring someone from outside Delhi who hasn’t contested for the top job, and in that case, Virendra Sachdeva—a non-controversial team man—may fit the bill for the BJP.
The BJP has a knack for doing things differently. Tribal-dominated Jharkhand created ripples when it made Raghubar Das the first non-tribal chief minister. In Jat-dominated Haryana, BJP made Manohar Lal Khattar—a Punjabi—as its CM and later picked Nayab Singh Saini, an OBC. The BJP, after sweeping Odisha last year, made Mohan Charan Majhi—from the Santhal tribe—the state’s chief minister. According to the 2011 Census of India, just 8.81% of the Scheduled Tribes in Odisha were Santhal.
To put it simply, even the would-be chief minister has no inkling right now that he or she is going to be the CM of Delhi in a few days. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has just returned from his very successful trip to the US, and sources say the CM-elect’s name will be finalised and made public soon.
The BJP has convened a meeting of its general secretaries on Saturday, and the legislature party meeting is likely on Sunday. The CM-elect will be the leader of the legislature party as well. So, as speculated, if on Sunday the meeting takes place, who the next Delhi CM will be will also come out.
The BJP makes all its oath-taking ceremonies grand. But it plans to make Delhi’s oath-taking ceremony stand out from the rest. After all, the wait of 28 years calls for massive jubilation, feels the party. BJP sources say invitations will go to the Prime Minister, all union ministers, all chief ministers of NDA-ruled states, and key party leaders. Party sources indicate that, if all goes well, the oath-taking ceremony could be on February 21.
