New Delhi:
At a small room in Dr Harsh Vardhan's east Delhi home, which serves as his study, clinic and party office, the BJP's choice for Delhi Chief Minister is personally meeting potential candidates for the December 4 polls in the capital.
'Doctor sahib', as he supporters call him, prides himself on having entire bio-datas of candidates for past Delhi elections on his fingertips.
"You have to put your heart and soul into everything that you do. A casual approach will not get any results" says the 58-year-old as I ask him about his mantra.
He pauses as a middle-aged woman is led in. "I want to work for the party" she says, as Dr Harsh Vardhan glances at her resume, sitting at his desk stacked with mementos and awards collected over the years. He makes a note on the resume and promises to get back to her.
The E.N.T specialist was voted as an MLA from Krishna Nagar in 1993 when Delhi voted for its first assembly. He was made health and finance minister in the cabinet led by Madan Lal Khurana. He has held this seat since.
Despite the rough and tumble of politics, he still sees patients almost on a daily basis.
"This is my passion, my mission to help people" he says. "Even as minister I used to try and see patients. We also keep a register of all patients who come to see me so that we can give a full account with the tax authorities."
A little over a month before the December polls, Dr Harsh Vardhan is entering the battle as the BJP's counter to Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit of the Congress and Arvind Kejriwal of the Aam Admi Party.
"Battling corruption is one of the most important issues," he says. "It's best to make sure that we improve systems to make them transparent from the beginning to prevent corruption rather than make laws to try and catch them later."
The Lokpal Bill to set up an anti-corruption watchdog cannot be the only answer, he insists. "Another new party in Delhi is talking about Lokpal as the answer. But you cannot have a magic wand for everything, so a systematic approach is more important to solve all issues," he said.
Harsh Vardhan, who was born in the old quarters of Delhi, has been living in his Krishna Nagar home for almost four decades, since his father, an accountant, raised a loan to buy the house.
So would his next move be to the CM's official residence in December, I ask. He laughs and says that the doctor now has patients to see.