Gurgaon: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj is emerging as the hot favouriate for the Haryana Chief Minister’s post – though she herself is not very keen on leaving the power centre. Even as the party is yet to take a call, there are intense talks in the party circles about projecting Swaraj for the post. Local party leaders, including an MP and some MLAs, are rooting for Sushma to be declared as the CM candidate for the upcoming polls.
A Lok Sabha MP from Karnal, Ashwini Chopra, is quoted in a popular daily as saying Swaraj would be a good choice among all aspirants for the post hailing from Haryana. However, Chopra made it clear that the party had not taken a final decision on the matter.
“There are at least 500 aspirants for chief ministership in the state BJP, so party is thinking whom to nominate for the post. That’s why nobody has been projected as yet. Hence, people have started saying Swaraj may be projected for the post. But we have to see whether she would like to come back to Haryana (as CM) after handling important responsibilities like the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and cabinet minister in the previous NDA government at the Centre, which was led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee,” he reportedly said. Â
Anil Vij, leader of BJP state assembly, also felt that her projection might be a good step. Haryana BJP spokesperson Veer Kumar Yadav also said it would be a happy moment for the party workers if she was projected as the CM. Echoing similar sentiments, many leaders in state BJP also felt that she might not like to come back to Haryana after holding important assignments at the Centre.
Sushma Swaraj had become India’s youngest state Cabinet minister at 25 years of age in 1977 when she was inducted as labour and employment minister in Haryana’s Devi Lal government. She had campaigned against the Emergency after joining Janata Party movement in 1975. Sushma, 62, who belongs to Palwal town of Haryana, has contested 11 direct elections from four states of India. She became first woman chief minister of Delhi in 1996.
Beside Sushma, Union Minister Rao Inderjit Singh is also a leading contender for the post. A former Congressman who defected to BJP before the April elections, his proximity to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his popularity in his home constituency of Gurgaon make him worth the post.
But BJP has other candidates, too. The State unit president Ram Bilash Sharma is an acceptable candidate with wide experience in organisational matters. Spokesperson Captain Abhimanyu Singh has amicable relationship with the party members. Also, party’s Kisan Morcha president Om Prakash Dhankhar is also among the contenders.