The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will kick-off its campaign from 17 September for the upcoming Delhi assembly elections. While former Education minister Harsh Vardhan is doing rounds as the party's first choice for the chief ministerial race, Vijay Goel is trying too hard to snatch away the title.
Senior leaders of the party, president Rajnath Singh and Delhi election in-charge Nitin Gadkari, will initiate the election rally at Talkatora Stadium on Tuesday.
The rally, which will be attended by party workers from all over Delhi, "will focus on issues like inflation, power, water, corruption, unauthorized colonies etc," Delhi BJP president Vijay Goel told PTI.
During the campaign, BJP workers will go from door-to-door to highlight the failures of the incumbent government. "The party cadres will go to every household under the slogan 'Ghar, Ghar BhaJaPa' and highlight the the Congress government in Delhi during the last 15 years," Goel added.
The polls are expected to be held in November. The dates are yet to be announced.
Indian National Congress will project Sheila Dikshit for the fourth consecutive time and Aam Admi Party, making a debut, has announced Arvind Kejriwal as its chief ministerial candidate.
The state BJP wing is hoping to cash in on Narendra Modi's PM candidacy as the Gujarat chief minister enjoys popularity among the youth.
This year, 3.49 lakh people in the age group of 18-19 will exercise their voting rights for the first time during the Delhi Assembly elections. Young voters make up 3.04 per cent of the electorate.
Goel already credited Modi for ABVP's win in the Delhi University Student Union elections on Saturday, where three out of four seats will be filled by BJP's youth wing.
Out of the 1.15 crore population, a majority of 64 lakh are women are expected to vote in the polls. The issue of crime rate is expected to be addressed.
"Despite a series of announcements in wake of the Nirbhaya case, the safety concerns of women remain unaddressed in the city. Sheila Dikshit promised to install CCTV cameras and, GPS and deployment of home-guards in all buses. Nothing much seems to have happened. She has only done window dressing as far as safety of women is concerned," Vijay Goel had tweeted.
BJP CM Candidate
In 2008, BJP leader VK Malhotra was announced as the CM candidate but failed to impress the voters. BJP received a mere 3 seat increase in their vote bank, from 20 to 23, in 2008.
"VK Malhotra as CM candidate in the last elections failed to connect. He could not inspire the city, which has 70% population below the age of 40. A relatively younger leader would have probably won us the 2008 elections," a senior BJP leader told Hindustan Times.
This year, senior BJP leader and former Education Minister Harsh Vadhan seems to be the front-runner for party's chief ministerial candidate, and will contend with Goel.
The growing unrest within BJP's Delhi wing has been making headlines due to Goel's insistence of him being crowned as the CM candidate.
In fact, 59-year-old Goel is the party's best bet according to a latest survey by ABP-Nielsen.
About 26 percent of the respondents in the survey see Goel as the most suitable CM candidate. Only 6 percent find Malhotra suitable and a mere 5 percent say Harsh Vardhan would make a good choice.
