Vijender Kumar Gupta, the incumbent MLA of BJP from Rohini constituency was able to retain his seat in the 2020 Delhi Assembly polls. In fact, he won the seat by 12,600 votes and bagged 62,174 votes against 49,526 of AAP, as per the data from Election Commission of India website. Gupta is among the 8 candidates of the BJP who registered victory against the AAP’s tsunami.
Gupta, who faced constant humiliation by the AAP in the last five years, as he was the only one to stand against 67 legislators of the party, is among those who stood up to AAP’s hooliganism in Delhi legislative assembly. He is so popular among the voters of his constituency that the voters voted for him despite the fact that they knew AAP is going to win the Assembly election and Kejriwal is going to be the next chief minister. The people voted for him even despite dissatisfaction with BJP.
Gupta can be made the Delhi BJP chief, as he comes from Vaishya community, which is very influential in the city. In the last few years, Kejriwal is trying to woo the Vaishya community; he appointed two members of the community to Rajya Sabha.
Making Tiwari Delhi unit chief did not go well with cadre and the other senior leaders of Delhi BJP like- Vijay Goel, Satish Upadhayay, Vijender Gupta. Manoj Tiwari’s leadership did not go well with the Delhi’s Punjabi and Baniya community, which have traditionally voted for BJP. Although Tiwari won the northeast Delhi Lok Sabha seat riding on Modi wave, but, he has not won Purvanchali votes for BJP in the assembly election.
BJP should look for a new candidate for the role of Delhi BJP chief and chief ministerial face for the next assembly election. As the city is dominated by Jat, Gujjar, Punjabi, Sikh and Vaish community, Gupta can be ideal candidate to lead the party’s state unit again.
Gupta has been the President of the Delhi’s BJP unit and is also member of the party’s national executive. Gupta was active in politics since his college days and was vice president of Delhi University Students Union. An alumnus DU’s prestigious Shri Ram College of Commerce, Gupta started electoral journey as councilor of Municipal Corporation of Delhi. 56 years old Gupta has more than three decades of experience in Delhi politics, and enjoys huge popularity among the party cadre in Delhi.
Gupta keeps a low key in media but has huge popularity among the people of Delhi. He can lead the party better than people like Major Tiwari who is turncoat and being a Purvanchali is abhorred by the Punjabis and Jats of Delhi. Gupta comes from right caste, community, and region.
Under his watch, the party can take on Kejriwal who is eyeing at the Vasihya community votes. Making Gupta head of Delhi BJP will keep the coffers of state unit filled as the people from the community are rich and ready to donate for the cause. Therefore, Gupta, who won the second term despite Kejriwal wave, is the right man to lead the party.