Delhi BJP chief to announce new team soon

New Delhi, Sep 2: Delhi BJP president Satish Upadhyay will soon unveil his new team which will make preparations for the assembly polls in the city likely to be held early next year. Party sources said South Delhi MP Ramesh Bidhuri may get an important role in Upadhyay's new team.

They also said the new team will be dominated by youths and a number of women leaders. "In the next ten days, Upadhyay will announce his new team, which may include some MPs, MLAs and councillors.

The new team will have a number of young faces and women," said a senior BJP leader. Upadhyay, a municipal councillor from Malviya Nagar in South Delhi, was appointed as the president of Delhi BJP unit after the Lok Sabha polls.

He succeeded Union Minister Harsh Vardhan, who had resigned from the post after being elected an MP from the Chandni Chowk constituency. The sources said Vardhan and some other leaders like New Delhi MP Meenakshi Lekhi may not be included in the team.

"As Vardhan and Lekhi have become Union Minister and the party national spokesperson respectively, they will not be included in the team," one of the sources said. The sources added that Upadhyay would also appoint office-bearers for party's various units like Mahila Morcha and SC Morcha.

BJP, along with its ally Akali Dal's one MLA, had won 32 seats in the 70-member assembly in the last December's polls. The number of BJP MLAs has come down to 28 as three party legislators -- Vardhan, Bidhuri and Pervesh Verma -- resigned after being elected to Lok Sabha. Though BJP MLAs are opposed to fresh assembly polls soon, the central leadership has told the Delhi unit to start preparations for the election, the sources said.

PTI