Delhi's Next Chief Minister A Woman? Buzz Amid Big BJP Brainstorm

It has been two days since the BJP scored a thumping victory in the Delhi election, ending the AAP's decade-long rule in the capital. With the BJP leadership yet to announce its Chief Minister choice, multiple names are doing the rounds. Among them are some who are not MLAs. Amid the suspense, sources in the party have said the next Delhi Chief Minister will be from among the MLAs.

A frontrunner for the top post is Parvesh Verma, who has emerged as a giant slayer after he defeated AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal in the New Delhi seat. A former two-time MP from West Delhi, he is the son of former Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma. Other names doing the rounds are former Delhi BJP chief and newly elected Malviya Nagar MLA Satish Upadhyay, senior party leader Vijender Gupta, newly elected Janakpuri MLA Ashish Sood and Uttam Nagar legislator Pawan Sharma. But the BJP is known to spring a surprise and defy predictions when it comes to choices for the top post.

Sources have now said that a woman MLA could also be considered for the top post. Among the BJP's 48 newly elected legislators are four women -- Neelam Pahalwan, Rekha Gupta, Poonam Sharma and Shikha Roy. Neelam Pahalwan has been elected the first woman MLA from Najafgarh seat, Rekha Gupta is a former Delhi University Students' Union president, Poonam Sharma has won in Wazirpur and Shikha Roy defeated senior AAP leader and former minister Saurabh Bharadwaj.

According to the sources, the BJP would also consider caste equations and may opt for an MLA from the Scheduled Caste. Four of the BJP MLAs are from the Scheduled Caste -- Raj Kumar Chauhan, elected in Mangolpuri, Ravikant Ujjain (Trilokpuri), Ravinder Indraj Singh (Bawana) and Kailash Gangwal (Madipur).

Hours after the BJP won 48 seats in the 70-member Assembly and restricted AAP to 22, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and party chief JP Nadda discussed the road ahead. The next day, Mr Nadda met Mr Shah at this residence to discuss the government formation. The Prime Minister is leaving for the US today and BJP sources have said the swearing-in ceremony of the new Chief Minister is likely to be held after his return. To mark its capital comeback after 26 years, the BJP will organise a grand oath event, the sources said. Chief Ministers of all NDA-ruled states are likely to be invited to the ceremony.