After Delhi defeat, BJP’s VK Malhotra wants out

NEW DELHI: After the BJP’s embarrassing defeat in the Delhi assembly elections, the party’s chief ministerial candidate, VK Malhotra, has become the fall guy.

Squarely blaming Malhotra for the loss in Delhi, senior members of the Delhi BJP want him to return to the party headquarters instead of staying on in the Delhi office. Malhotra too wants to go back to his job in the BJP headquarters and continue as a parliamentarian rather than sitting in the Delhi assembly for the next five years.

Malhotra’s detractors, who were snubbed by the party high command for opposing his candidature, are now openly blaming him for the party’s defeat. Senior leaders of the Delhi BJP were shocked when Malhotra was para-dropped by the party high-command to lead the Delhi elections. Even though the local leaders openly expressed their unhappiness, the party high command did not take much interest in the ground realities.

Interestingly, just two days after the defeat, Malhotra was seen at the opening day session of Parliament, indicating that he would rather be associated with the party high command than dabble in state politics.

The BJP was the clear favourite when the poll campaign began in Delhi. But the party was surprised by the decision of voters, who chose Sheila Dikshit as their representative.  Unable to face defeat for the third consecutive term, the top brass of the BJP has gone into hiding and is hardly seen in their offices. “The people have rejected him (Malhotra) so if he wants to go back to the parliament, we can’t stop him from doing that,” said a senior BJP leader, who also had chief ministerial ambitions and had gone to jail during the anti-sealing protests started by the BJP.