With the Bharatiya Janata Party a clear winner in the Delhi assembly elections, meet the BJP aspirants for the chief minister's post -- with a MoShah caveat of course.
The BJP's Modi-Shah regime are known for picking rank outsiders as chief minister. Look at what happened in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan in December 2023.
Dushyant Kumar Gautam
The BJP's Dalit face in Delhi, Gautam is a former Rajya Sabha MP and a party national general secretary.
Picking him as CM could help the party in the Bihar elections in the autumn where the BJP is looked upon as an upper caste party.
Parvesh Verma
The late Delhi chief minister Sahib Singh Verma's son, Parvesh is pitted against Arvind Kejriwal in the New Delhi seat where the two contestants have been alternately leading and trailing over many rounds of counting.
If Verma defeats Kejriwal, he may emerge a top contender for the CM's post.
Manjinder Singh Sirsa
According to the Association of Democratic Reforms, Sirsa has declared assets of Rs 248.85 crore (Rs 2.4885 billion) in his election affidavit and is one of the richest candidates in the current election.
The BJP's Sikh face, Sirsa is a vociferous critic of the Aam Aadmi Party.
If the BJP chooses him as CM, it would deny the narrative that the party is anti-minority.
Kapil Mishra
A former confidant of Arvind Kejriwal, Mishra fell out with the AAP boss before the 2020 Delhi assembly elections and joined the BJP.
He lost the 2020 elections from the Model Town constituency and is contesting this election from Karawal Nagar in North East Delhi.
Ravindra Singh Negi
The BJP candidate from Patparganj is whose feet Narendra Modi touched thrice at an election rally last week.
Vijendra Gupta
Gupta won the 2015 and 2020 elections from Rohini despite the AAP waves that swept Delhi. That should give him a head start over all the others in the fray.
Virendra Sachdeva
The BJP's Delhi chief has rebuilt the party after its past drubbings by the AAP.
Sachdeva was appointed working president of the Delhi BJP in December 2022 after the party's defeat in the municipal corporation elections. He was promoted to head the Delhi BJP in March 2023 and has clearly shown results.
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