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| Biting the bullet: Will BJP make Kiran Bedi CM candidate for Delhi polls? | | | Agencies
New delhi, Jan 18: She may have joined the party just ahead of the crucial Delhi elections, but will Kiran Bedi not only spearhead the campaign but also be its chief ministerial candidate?
The former IPS officer Kiran Bedi made her foray into politics by joining the BJP on 15 January and there is speculation that she could be declared the party's chief ministerial candidate ahead of the polls.
While the party refrained from taking a decision when she joined the party saying that the Parliamentary Board would take the decision, former party president Rajnath Singh on Sunday refused to comment on the matter and said that the decision would only be taken later.
"So far there is no decision. The parliamentary board will take a final call. In case of Delhi, the parliamentary party will take the final decision," Singh said.
Kiran Bedi with PM Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah. PTIKiran Bedi with PM Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah.
Reports have suggested that all leaders in the Delhi BJP top brass may not be on the same page when it comes to having Bedi as the chief ministerial candidate and even that the RSS may not have been pleased with the decision being taken so well before the 7 February polls.
An IBN-Live report quoting sources said, "Those in favour of the announcement said internal surveys by the party showed that a critical percentage of voters are not voting for the party in the absence of a CM candidate and projecting Bedi would clear the dilemma of voters as she was a popular CM candidate. On the other hand, the section of leaders opposing such a move said that an outsider cannot be given the leadership command of the party before elections."
Even ahead of the 2013 Assembly elections, speculation was rife that Bedi would join the party and be its face for the Assembly polls but the party chose to go with its senior Delhi leader and now Union Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan instead.
In May 2014, Bedi had said she was ready to be the CM candidate if such an offer was made to her. "I will consider myself to be ready for it if such an offer is made," Bedi had said when asked if she would be the candidate if fresh elections were announced. But her bid to be CM was shot down by several BJP leaders who felt she was an 'outsider'.
Bedi's entry into Delhi politics has been a boon for the BJP that so far did not have a face to challenge AAP's Arvind Kejriwal.
As pointed out by Firstpost editor Sanjay Singh in this earlier article, "The leadership void was a sore point for the BJP, especially given the Aam Aadmi Party's well-known face of Arvind Kejriwal. In fact, AAP repeatedly taunted the BJP over the lack of a chief ministerial candidate and for using Narendra Modi as a prop. In fact, to underscore the point, AAP unilaterally decided to call it a Kejriwal versus Jagdish Mukhi fight - a clearly unequal fight. Mukhi was leader of the opposition when Sheila Dikshit was CM. But the BJP has now redrawn the chess broad and looks to be suddenly one up in the game of political brinkmanship. The move has taken AAP, as also the mid-level leadership, by surprise."
Even the AAP has acknowledged that Bedi's inclusion was one that could help it greatly.
One of the founding members of IAC, who worked closely with Bedi and later joined AAP, told Firstpost, "It's a right choice as she'll bring credibility to the Delhi BJP and is the most befitting candidate for CM. When she was denied her right to become the police commissioner, she decided to part ways with the Congress. Since then it was clear that she would get into politics someday or the other. Her administrative capabilities have remained beyond doubt and she has proved it." And if Bedi does lead the BJP to victory it could set a precedent for the party for future polls.
Sources also told CNN-IBN, "If Delhi experiment of projecting an outsider as a leader works in favour of the party then it is likely to be repeated in other states where BJP needs credible faces in the event of in-fighting within the party's state unit."
For now, the BJP is choosing to keep its cards close to its chest as it tries to checkmate the AAP and Arvind Kejriwal. |
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