File photo: Kiran Bedi (right standing) after she joined the BJP. (Press Trust of India)
The BJP will hold marathon meetings today to finalise the names of the candidates it will field for the crucial Delhi elections next month, even as state leaders come to terms with new politician and former top cop Kiran Bedi being para-dropped amid them as a party ace.
Most leaders have reportedly welcomed her entry into the party, but amid buzz that the party could decide today to project Ms Bedi, 65, as the BJP's candidate for chief minister, sources said not everyone is quite convinced that it would be a politically canny move.
Delhi's election committee, a 21-member group headed by state unit president Satish Upadhyay and the party's central committee, that has 15 national party leaders, including BJP chief Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will meet today. The latter will meet at 7 this evening to vet and finalise the list of candidates.
Sources said the panel is expected to announce a campaign committee for Delhi, which could be headed by Ms Bedi. It is also said to be looking for sure-shot seat for Ms Bedi.
Kiran Bedi, former IPS officer and activist, joined the BJP last week in a high-profile induction and was immediately featured prominently on the party's Delhi posters leading to speculation that she will be projected as the presumptive chief ministerial to counter AAP's Arvind Kejriwal.
Union minister and former party president Rajnath Singh said on Sunday, "So far there is no decision. The parliamentary board will take a final call." Mr Singh is a member of the BJP's parliamentary board, a group of 12 leaders who are also part of the central election committee that meets this evening.
The BJP, which is aiming to better its tally in the last assembly elections to win a majority this time, is last off the blocks on announcing candidates. Rivals Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress have already announced a majority of their candidates.
In elections held in December 2013, the BJP had bagged 31 seats and its ally the Akali Dal had won one. They were five seats short of a majority in the 70-member assembly, with AAP winning 28 seats, and the Congress eight.