New Delhi: There is a buzz in the political circles that Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta, party’s former state unit head Satish Uphadyay, former Mayor Aarti Mehra, and party’s state unit general secretary Kuljeet Chahal are keen to contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in the national capital.
The buzz about the willingness of these leaders to contest in any of the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi started after the four are said to have conveyed to the party leadership that they were not keen to become in-charge of the party’s affairs in any of the seven parliamentary seats in the city.
A highly placed source said that party’s in-charge of Delhi affairs Shyam Jaju, state unit chief Manoj Tiwari, and Delhi BJP’s general secretary (organisation) Siddarthan had personally requested these leaders to take charge of any of the seven Lok Sabha seats in the city.
“But these leaders outrightly refused to take up this responsibility saying they themselves were keen to contest the Lok Sabha polls,” a source told this newspaper.
BJP has already appointed seven leaders as in-charges for party’s poll activities in all the seven Lok Sabha seats in the city. Those who have been appointed are party vice president Rajiv Babbar for East Delhi, former mayor Harsh Malhotra for New Delhi, party vice president Abhay Verma for West Delhi, former general secretary Asish Sood for South Delhi, and party old guards Ved Vyas Mahajan for Northeast seat and Bhola Nath Vij for Northwest constituency.
After facing humiliating defeats in the Assembly polls in Punjab, Telengana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajashthan, and Chattisgarh, BJP is counting on each seat for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
