Poll Chatter Box

Intriguing U-turn
Everyone is wondering at the BJP headquarters on what changed in the last two days for the party to take a U-turn and give Vijay Goel a ticket from New Delhi. Insiders claim Goel convinced the high command that he had some sort of an “arrangement”,perhaps with the ruling party,and would be able to make it. Goel’s secret meeting with an influential Congress leader on January 9 is also an open secret,which is now doing rounds at corridors of the headquarter and intriguing many. When asked by Newsline at that time,he had said it was routine for senior leaders to have meetings.

All smiles
The backroom boys of Delhi BJP are smiling at the candidate list. The threesome of Delhi BJP — R P Singh,Satish Upadhaya and Ashish Sood — continued their parlays. On Tuesday,the trio met Rajnath Singh,pressing that the party should bury the differences of opinion and release the list as soon as possible.

SMS campaign
Soon after the list for Delhi candidates was released,an SMS kept popping up on mobile phones. It said: “Anything can be taken from BJP,just a resignation threat! Even ticket is yours. Motivation — Shatrughan Sinha,Patnasahib and Vijay Goel,New Delhi.”