Strong infighting in BJP forced Puri to clarify Delhi CM candidate not finalized: AAP

New Delhi (PTI): The Aam Aadmi Party on Monday claimed that "strong infighting" within the Delhi BJP forced Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri to clarify that they have not finalised the chief ministerial candidate for the assembly elections due early next year.

Puri had on Sunday said that the BJP will fight the assembly election under the leadership of party's Delhi unit chief Manoj Tiwari and ensure that he becomes the chief minister, only to backtrack on his statement hours later. Seeking to play down his earlier statement, Puri, the Union minister for housing and urban affairs, had said he meant that the BJP would win under the leadership of Tiwari.

AAP leader Sanjay Singh asserted that his party will win more seats this time than it did in the 2015 assembly polls. He said "the BJP is contesting the assembly polls in Delhi just for formality as they know they would lose the elections".

"In India, a shift is of 8 hours, but BJP did not even allow Manoj Tiwari to complete one shift and called back his name in 2 hours," Singh told reporters. Singh further said that after the statement it can only be assumed that the BJP is "planning to give a walkover to AAP" in the upcoming assembly elections in Delhi. Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia told a TV channel that BJP is not "confident enough" to pitch anyone against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. The BJP has not declared any chief ministerial candidate for the upcoming polls in the national capital. The AAP claimed that BJP leaders Vijender Gupta and Vijay Goel along with Tiwari were all competing with each other to become the chief ministerial candidate of Delhi for the upcoming assembly elections.

In the run up to the 2015 polls, when the BJP had initially not announced any chief ministerial candidate, the AAP had invoked names of several BJP leaders trying to make it a battle against them and Arvind Kejriwal. The BJP had later declared former IPS officer Kiran Bedi as its CM face.