CONFIRMED | 'Won't rest till Manoj Tiwari is Delhi's CM': Hardeep Puri puts rumours to bed

Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Sunday batted for Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari as the chief ministerial candidate of the party in the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections scheduled early next year. "We are going to contest the Assembly elections under the leadership of Manoj Tiwari Ji and we will rest only after making him the Chief Minister," said Puri addressing a public meeting in the national capital. This came a day after he said he had no intention to run for the post of Delhi chief minister.

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Challenge to Kejriwal

In his address on Sunday Hardeep Singh Puri also attacked sitting Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for the contaminated nature of water being supplied to certain parts of Delhi. "Kejriwal Ji says that Delhi's water is not that bad. If that is the case, then drink a litre of that water, you'll know whether its bad or not," challenged Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri.

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"The party has a well-defined leadership in Delhi. There are people who have grown up in the city. I have no such intentions (to run for the CM's post). I am happy where I am," Hardeep Singh Puri said during a press conference in the national capital on Saturday. Puri also denounced the Arvind Kejriwal government in Delhi for its "obstructionist irresponsible attitude on every issue pertaining to the welfare of the people in the national capital".

The BJP had placed its bets on Dr Harsh Vardhan, now Union Health Minister, during the 2013 assembly elections, while former IPS officer Kiran Bedi was its CM face in 2015, now Lt. Governor of Puducherry. In both elections, the party tasted defeat from the Aam Aadmi Party, especially a crushing one in 2015 by securing just three seats in the 70-seat Assembly.

(With Agency inputs)

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