New Delhi:
Efforts to form the next Delhi government will pick up after Prime Minister Narendra Modi returns to India – from his trip to France and the United States – later today, sources told NDTV.
Several big decisions, including the biggest – who will replace Aam Aadmi Party leader Atishi as Chief Minister and who will be in the new cabinet – are still pending since the Bharatiya Janata Party’s thumping win in the Delhi Assembly election last week. Mr Modi will likely chair a meeting with Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP chief JP Nadda, and its Delhi unit leaders, to take these decisions.
Once these decisions are taken, the first meeting of the legislature party will either be on February 17 or February 18, and the ministers will take their oaths on February 19 or 20.
Whenever these meetings are held, and whomever is chosen, what is certain is that the BJP is planning on a mega swearing-in ceremony for its new Chief Minister in Delhi. The chief ministers of all BJP-ruled states will, of course, attend, as will those from states ruled by NDA partners.
READ | Delhi’s Grand Swearing-In Likely After PM Returns From US
Ahead of the meeting with the Prime Minister, the BJP’s leadership has already done some prep, including finalising a shortlist of 15 names (out of the party’s 48 MLAs). From this list nine will be selected for the post of Chief Minister, members of his/her cabinet, and the Assembly Speaker.
In the hours after the BJP’s win was confirmed, there was speculation about who would be the next Chief Minister of Delhi. The odds-on favourite is former two-time MP Parvesh Verma, who defeated AAP boss and former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to win the New Delhi constituency.
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Others expected on the BJP’s chief ministerial shortlist are the party’s Delhi unit leader, Virendra Sachdeva, and Bansuri Swaraj, a first-time MP who is the daughter of the late former Union Minister Sushma Swaraj. Satish Upadhyay, the BJP’s Brahmin face in Delhi, is also an option.
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The BJP engineered a triumphant return to power in Delhi after the February 5 election. The party won 48 of Delhi’s 70 Assembly seats after winning a combined 11 in two previous polls.
The AAP, looking to win a third straight term found itself dragged down by attacks targeting party boss Arvind Kejriwal over the ‘sheeshmahal‘ and liquor excise policy scandals, among others.
DELHI ELECTION RESULTS | BJP’s Capital Gain AAP-ends Arvind Kejriwal
Eventually the party flopped badly, winning just 22 seats. For context, the party swept 67 seats in the 2015 election and 62 five years later.
The Congress was routed – it got zero seats for a third successive Delhi election.
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