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The Delhi BJP state president Vijay Goel on Sunday stormed out of the party’s Chief Election Committee’s meeting in New Delhi. While it is not known exactly what transpired at the meeting, the state BJP said it has still not decided who the party’s chief ministerial candidate will be for the upcoming Delhi Assembly Polls.

Till a few days back, it was taken for granted that Goel was the party’s face and CM candidate in the capital. However, Dr Harshvardhan pipped Goel to the race when the party announced him as the most likely CM candidate, creating a rift in the party just weeks before the state goes to the polls.

Goel then threatened an open revolt, saying if he refuses to work for the party for the next few weeks, all traction gained by him will be lost. Goel enjoys significant support within the party cadre. However, the top brass seems more inclined towards a CM candidate with a clean image and one who is seen as a professional, primarily as a counter to Aam Aadmi Party’s rising popularity graph.

While Goel has now clarified that he will not quit the BJP over the CM candidate issue, it is still unclear what trade-off has the BJP promised him in exchange for giving up his CM ambitions.

Vijay Goel went into active damage control mode moments after reports emerged that the BJP is deciding to project Dr Harshvardhan as the party’s face for the Delhi Assembly Elections. Vijay Goel is learnt to have personally called up senior leaders and spoken about the role he has played in galvanising the party cadre since being made Delhi state president in April this year.

Adopting an aggressive public posture, Vijay Goel called a press conference in the capital on Wednesday in which he declared, "The opinion polls projected me against Sheila Dikshit. Look at the results of the opinion polls. My party is ahead and so am I."

An opinion poll put out on Tuesday by research agency Nielsen for ABP News projected a hung house, with the BJP leading the race in Delhi. BJP was projected to bag 28 seats, while the Congress’ tally was shown coming down to 22 seats from the current 42 seats in the 70 seat Assembly. The debutant Aam Aadmi Party was projected to open its account with an impressive 18 seats.

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Vijay Goel said he had sent the results of all the opinion polls to Delhi poll in-charge Nitin Gadkari. "The decision (of projecting a CM candidate) will be taken by the public, party workers and the opinion polls. The parliamentary board will take a decision based on views of the public and the inputs of party workers."

Several leaders in the BJP’s parliamentary board are of the opinion that Dr Harshvardhan is a better bet as the party’s CM candidate on account of his clean image and his credentials as a successful professional. These leaders believe that the reason the Aam Aadmi Party is generating so much buzz is because the BJP leadership in Delhi has failed to emerge as a convincing alternative to the Sheila Dikshit government.

However, another section of the party is wary of the damage that Vijay Goel can cause if he goes into a sulk and refuses to actively support BJP candidates in the forthcoming elections. This section believes that with just seven weeks to go for the Delhi polls, it is now too late to change horses mid-way and a decision on projecting Dr Harshvardhan could backfire on the BJP.