While other senior Delhi BJP leaders were busy praising Mr Modi and slamming the Delhi government, party’s state unit chief Vijay Goel virtually declared himself as the next chief minister of the state. During his speech at the party’s rally on Sunday, Mr Goel promised to work like Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh and Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan. “Shivraj Singh has done tremendous work in MP and Raman Singh has also done spectacular work in Chhattisgarh. I promise that I will also bring development in Delhi. As the party’s state president, I promise that Delhi will see growth and development just like these states,” he said. Reasserting his candidature further, he said, “I am blessed that I got a chance to work under the guidance of former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee during his tenure and I am sure that I will work under the guidance of Mr Modi when he becomes the prime minister,” he said. However, a large faction of senior BJP MLAs of Delhi are against Mr Goel and they support Harsh Vardhan, senior party leader and MLA from Krishna Nagar constituency, as chief ministerial candidate. These leaders blame Mr Goel for making the party a one man show and ignoring them. On many occasions, the senior party leaders skipped party’s important functions organised by Mr Goel and some seniors continued to avoid holding press meets and other functions and party’s office at 14, Pant Marg.
