Bidhuri is a prominent Gurjar community leader and a former Lok Sabha member
Delhi election: Here are BJP's chief ministerial frontrunners
The BJP has many probable chief ministers, including two were formerly with the AAP, which ruled Delhi since 2015 but which is set for a huge defeat
With the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) set to return to power after a quarter century, a quiet race is on for the post of chief minister, with the top contenders being Ramesh Bidhuri, Parvesh Verma and Dushyant Gautam among others.
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The BJP has many probable chief ministers, including two who were formerly with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which ruled Delhi since 2015 but which faces a huge defeat.
In any case, as BJP sources say, the final decision on who will be head the Delhi government will be decided by its two top stars: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister and political strategist Amit Shah.
Probable contenders:
Dushyant Gautam: A national general secretary and a Dalit leader, he has been a former Rajya Sabha member. After losing twice in Assembly elections in Delhi, he contested from Karol Bagh, a reserved seat, against three-time AAP MLA Vishesh Ravi.
Ramesh Bidhuri: A prominent Gurjar community leader and a former Lok Sabha member, Bidhuri is known for his abrasive nature – but the type the BJP might go for to show an aggressive face against the AAP. He took on Delhi chief minister Atishi Singh in Kalkaji.
Parvesh Verma: Son of former popular Delhi chief minister Sahib Singh Verma, he is from the Jat community, which over the past decade, like most other groups, sided with the AAP. Aggressive, he took on AAP founder and former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in the election – and could emerge Delhi’s biggest of giant killers.
Vijender Gupta: Soft-spoken unlike some others, Gupta beat the AAP wave both in 2015 and 2020 and has served as a leader of the opposition in the Delhi Assembly. But he doesn’t enjoy the kind of mass support which people like Gautam, Bidhuri and Verma do.
Harish Khurana: A Punjabi, he is the son of former Delhi chief minister and the city’s once BJP live-wire: Madan Lal Khurana. But unlike his late father, he is not relatively high profile.
Others: Besides these five, the BJP could opt for Manjinder Singh Sirsa, the party’s best-known Sikh leader in Delhi, Ravinder Singh Negi, who hails from Uttarakahand, Kapil Mishra, a former AAP minister and now a strong votary of Hindutva, former Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay, former AAP minister Kailash Gehlot and former councillor Rekha Gupta.
Delhi has been one of the oldest bastions of the BJP and its predecessor, the Jana Sangh – the others being Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and undivided Madhya Pradesh. But the BJP was kept away from power by the Congress for 15 long years and later the AAP for over a decade.