BJP to select Delhi CM on Feb 19, oath on Feb 20

The Bharatiya Janata Party Legislative Party meeting in Delhi is set to take place on February 19, according to BJP sources, adding that the new Chief Minister will take oath on February 20 at Ramlila Maidan.

IMAGE: Former Delhi BJP president Satish Upadhyay, 2nd from left and Parvesh Verma, 1st from right, are the frontrunners for the top post. Photograph: Amit Sharma/ANI Photo

BJP's newly-elected MLAs were to meet on Monday to choose the new chief minister of Delhi. However, according to sources, the meeting has been postponed to Wednesday.

"The BJP Legislature Party meeting scheduled for tomorrow has been postponed. Now this meeting will be held on February 19. The swearing-in ceremony of the Chief Minister will also be held on February 20 instead of February 18," a BJP source said.

To oversee the arrangements of the event, BJP general secretaries Vinod Tawde and Tarun Chugh have been appointed as in-charges.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, NDA Chief Ministers, Union Ministers, industrialists from the corporate world, film stars, cricket players, saints and sages will attend the swearing-in ceremony, as per BJP sources.

The ceremony will be a grand event with 12,000-16,000 residents of Delhi in attendance, along with saints, sages, and diplomats from various countries, the sources added.

The BJP came to power in Delhi after a gap of more than 26 years, winning the assembly polls held on February 5. It ended the Aam Aadmi Party's 10-year rule in Delhi. The saffron party won 48 of the 70 assembly seats in the capital.

The names of several newly-elected MLAs are doing the rounds for the posts of chief minister and ministers.

Those considered frontrunners for the top post include Parvesh Verma, who defeated AAP supremo and former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in the election from the New Delhi seat, and former Delhi BJP presidents Vijender Gupta and Satish Upadhyay.

Pawan Sharma, Ashish Sood, Rekha Gupta and Shikha Rai, among others, are also contenders for the chief minister's post.

Many in the party believe that as was the cases in Rajasthan, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Chhattisgarh, the BJP leadership might put its bets on a "dark horse" among the newly-elected MLAs.

With inputs from PTI