BJP's Malhotra to take on Dikshit in Delhi elections

Getting into election mode, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today chose Vijay Kumar Malhotra, Lok Sabha member from Delhi, to lead the party in the coming Assembly elections.

Malhotra, 77, will pose a formidable challenge to sitting Congress Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, given that the veteran BJP leader holds sway over a huge vote bank comprising Punjabi refugees — both Hindus and Sikhs — as against the Congress’ traditional support base of migrants from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

Malhotra, who was born and partly educated in Lahore, was among the scores of refugees who started their lives from scratch in Delhi in the wake of the partition.

Malhotra’s supporters welcomed the decision of the BJP’s parliamentary party with drumbeats even as many asserted that he “should have got this honour much before others”.

Party General Secretary Arun Jaitely described Malhotra as “the most experienced party leader” and said his selection was to honour his “capabilities and experience to become the chief minister of Delhi”.

After his nomination, Malhotra said that if he became chief minister, he would concentrate on “development, especially controlling the pollution of the Yumana, and resettlement of jhugi-jhopri clusters”.

According to BJP sources, Malhotra won the nomination against aspirants like Vijay Goel and Harsh Vardhan — two other senior leaders from Delhi.

Malhotra started his political career in 1958 as a member of the Delhi municipal corporation. A contemporary of senior party leader LK Advani, Malhotra was elected chief executive councillor, a post equivalent to chief minister, in 1967.

A member of the Jana Sangh, the precursor of today’s BJP, Malhotra has been a Member of Parliament four times — thrice in the Lok Sabha.