BJP Chief Minister Won't Stay At "Arvind Kejriwal's Sheesh Mahal": Sources

The new Chief Minister of Delhi will not occupy the 'Sheesh Mahal', the Flagstaff Road bungalow in Civil Lines, where Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) boss Arvind Kejriwal resided as the chief minister, sources said.

'Sheesh Mahal' - a colloquial Hindi term for an opulent house - was coined by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to allege a "big scam" in the renovation of Mr Kejriwal's official bungalow.

The BJP on Saturday returned to power in the national capital after more than 26 years, clinching 48 seats in the 70-member assembly, 40 more than its 2020 tally of 8. 

The AAP, which won 62 seats in 2020, was reduced to 22, while the Congress couldn't open its account for the third consecutive time.

Suspense Over Delhi's New Chief Minister

While the BJP leadership is yet to announce its choice for the Chief Minister's post, newly-elected MLA Parvesh Verma is being seen as the frontrunner. Mr Verma, 47, emerged as a giant slayer by defeating Mr Kejriwal from the New Delhi seat in the assembly elections.

Mr Verma, a former two-time MP from West Delhi, was denied a parliamentary election ticket last year. 

He then fought the assembly poll against Mr Kejriwal in a seat the AAP chief had won thrice in a row. 

Mr Verma is the son of former Delhi Chief Minister, late Sahib Singh Verma.

Speaking to the media after the BJP's comeback, he said the party leadership will decide the next chief minister of Delhi.

Names of Satish Upadhyay, who stopped AAP's Somnath Bharti from claiming a fourth successive win from the Malviya Nagar constituency, Ashish Sood, who is the new MLA from the Janakpuri seat, Jitendra Mahajan, now a three-time MLA from Rohtas Nagar, and Vijender Gupta, a three-time MLA from the Rohini seat who has been the president of the Delhi BJP, are also doing rounds.

According to sources, the oath ceremony of the new Delhi Chief Minister is likely to take place after Prime Minister Narendra Modi returns from his visit to the US this week. 

Prime Minister Modi is scheduled to pay an official visit to the US on February 12 and 13, his first trip to Washington since the inauguration of Donald Trump.