Delhi BJP leaders meet as party nudges them to sink differences, plan roadmap for Assembly polls

Efforts have begun to iron out differences among senior Delhi BJP leaders to bring them on one platform in view of Assembly elections early next year.

In a crucial meeting at Delhi BJP office on Monday, chaired by national organisational secretary Ramlal, stress was laid on working unitedly to unseat incumbent Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) from power and form a BJP government in the city after a gap of two decades, said a senior leader who attended the meet.

"Some leaders in the meeting, including Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari, suggested that leaders should voice differences within the party instead of airing them through media," he said.

The meeting went on for over three hours. Very positive discussions were held over a road map for the coming Assembly elections, Tiwari said.

"We will work unitedly to bring back the BJP to power in Delhi," he said.

The participants, including national vice president and incharge of Delhi BJP Shyam Jaju, agreed during the meeting that it will be difficult to defeat the AAP if the entire leadership is not on the same page over common issues, said another Delhi BJP leader.

It was also agreed upon that the seven Lok Sabha MPs from Delhi should work in a coordinated manner with the city unit leaders. For their increased intervention in local issues, it was decided that they should monitor working of the three BJP- ruled municipal corporations in the city, he said.

The BJP was in power in Delhi from 1993 to 1998. The Congress then formed the government for three consecutive terms, followed by the AAP which came to power in Delhi in 2013 and then in 2015 with a massive victory.

The Delhi BJP is buoyed by the party's win in all seven Lok Sabha seats in the polls in May. The party was ahead in over 12,000 out of over 13,800 polling booths in the city which the leaders see as a sign that it can come back to power this time, party sources said.

The meeting was attended by Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta, former Delhi BJP president Satish Upadhyay, former Union minister Vijay Goel, Delhi unit general secretaries and Lok Sabha MPs from the city except Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan.