Adesh Gupta, the head of the Delhi BJP, resigned from his job on Sunday, just days after his party fell to Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party in the crucial elections for the Delhi Municipal Corporation (MCD).
The BJP said that Virendra Sachdeva has been named the party’s acting president till Gupta’s replacement is chosen. In June 2020, Adesh Gupta was named to lead the BJP’s Delhi chapter.
Adesh Gupta had previously stated that the AAP will serve as the MCD mayor and the BJP will serve as a ‘strong opposition’ on Friday, putting a stop to rumours that the party will still seek the mayor’s seat despite losing the civic elections.
Prior to the civic elections, a number of BJP officials had made suggestions that the party will try for the mayor’s position.
“Now let’s choose a mayor for Delhi. It will all rely on who can maintain a majority in a tight race, how the nominated council members vote, etc. For instance, Chandigarh has a BJP mayor,” Amit Malviya, the head of the BJP’s IT division, tweeted after the results announcement on Wednesday.
Other party officials, like Manjinder Singh Sirsa and Tajinder Pal Bagga, have also made suggestions that the BJP would run for mayor.
The case of Chandigarh, where the BJP won the mayor’s position despite the AAP winning 14 of the 35 seats in the municipal elections earlier this year, served as additional support.
But Gupta ended the conversation by saying that the BJP will play the role of a strong opposition in the MCD.
“Since the AAP has the support of the people, they may choose their mayor. We send them our best wishes,” Gupta had said, speaking to PTI.
In the carefully monitored municipal elections on Wednesday, the AAP triumphed against the BJP. The BJP won 104 out of the 250 wards, while the Arvind Kejriwal-led party won 134.
