BJP's Delhi CM candidate: Goel stakes claim

Upset over not being projected as BJP's chief ministerial candidate for the Delhi Assembly polls, Vijay Goel today staked his claim for the position before the party's top leadership and indicated his opposition against any move to declare Harsh Vardhan's name for it.
Sources said Goel met BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, party chief Rajnath Singh, leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and former party chief Nitin Gadkari and projected his case for the party's chief ministerial candidate in Delhi saying that he had worked hard to strengthen BJP in the last eights months.
He also opposed any move to project senior leader Harsh Vardhan as the party's candidate for chief ministership and said such a move would demoralise party's workers at the grass-roots level.

The sources said Goel conveyed to the leadership that it will be difficult for him to work with "equal vigour" if he is ignored and Harsh Vardhan is made the chief ministerial candidate.
The sources said Goel referred to results of various opinion polls in the last couple of months and said all the surveys have projected him as the most popular choice as BJP's CM candidate.
Goel met the party leaders at BJP's headquarters at 11 Ashoka Road in Central Delhi where some of his supporters shouted slogans demanding that the Delhi unit of the party should be made the CM candidate.

Sources close to Goel said he had impressed upon the party leadership to make realise the ground realities and take a decision on announcing the chief ministerial candidate to take on incumbent Sheila Dikshit.