Sushma reluctant to contest Delhi polls, but BJP insisting

Sources said that Swaraj was apprehensive that if the BJP could not form a government in Delhi, the party leadership would ask her to remain as leader of the Opposition. Swaraj has set her sights on national politics and is not keen to stay in state politics.

But BJPbosses are pressing her to contest the polls, fearing that the Congress would make political capital of the fact that their chief ministerial candidate is not in the electoral fray — that she herself is doubtful of the BJP’s victory and is a reluctant stop-gap CM.

If Swaraj does decide to contest, where will she stand from? All the MLAs in her South Delhi Lok Sabha seat, which she has nurtured, belong to the BJP and one would have to be asked to sacrifice his/her seat — something no one would be happy about.

The feud between the BJP’s two main leaders in Delhi, Madan Lal Khurana and Sahib Singh Verma, is another factor that could mar the party’s performance. Both are on the warpath now. Verma because he was unceremoniously unseated and Khurana because Verma prevented him from becoming Delhi CM. Unless the BJP’s top bosses manage to prevail over them, Khurana’s Punjabi lobby and Verma’s Jat supporters could make the Congress’ task easier.

Of equal concern to Swaraj is the possibility that neitherKhurana nor Verma would like to see her as the next Delhi CM : Their hold over their own political bases could become tenuous if the BJP wins the elections under her leadership.

If all this was not enough, the BJP’s allies at the Centre are also asking for a share in the Delhi pie. The Akali Dal, Samata Party and the Haryana Lok Dal are keen on seat-sharing but the BJP is reluctant. The Samata Party is touting the Bihari vote and asking for seats where there is a concentration of Biharis. The HLD is arguing that after Verma’s ouster it is better placed to garner Jat votes.

On its part, the Akali Dal is pointing to Sikh votes in the State. But the BJP argues that it had given the Akali six seats in the municipal elections and the Akalis lost all of them. The Samata Party has already declared that it will contest 30 seats on its own if no seat-sharing arrangement is arrived at. What could ultimately transpire is that the BJP could suggest that allies fight on their own and promise that it will consider acoalition government in the State after the elections.