Did Modi silently pull the strings on Harsh Vardhan's CM nomination?

Guess who could have been behind the coronation of Harsh Vardhan as BJP’s chief ministerial candidate in Delhi. Yes, it appears it’s none other than Narendra Modi. According to a Hindustan Times report, Narendra Modi realised that BJP’s fortunes in Delhi were bleak unless they could project a ‘clean’ candidate - something that the AAP seems to have made their buzzword. Modi apparently pulled the strings in consultation with senior leaders like Arun Jaitley and Amit Shah who were also in favour of Harsh Vardhan. [caption id=“attachment_1190215” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Harsh Vardhan. AFP[/caption] Vijay Goel, the other name that was doing the rounds for BJP’s CM candidate, was considered for his ‘organisational ability’ - he had helped organise a big rally for Narendra Modi in Delhi - but Modi finally managed to take Rajnath Singh, who was otherwise biased towards Goel, into confidence. What seems to have worked against Goel are two things: one, his decision to not take on board several senior BJP leaders who were alarmed, and two, his declining popularity among the voters in Delhi. As this _Firstpost_ article notes that BJP wants to fight the Delhi elections more with personality rather than issues. In that scheme of things, Vijay Goel, who has been an aggressive party member and an organisational worker doesn’t quite match up to Dr Harsh Vardhan’s apparent popularity among citizens. However, it appears that Narendra Modi also realised that AAP’s development agenda could be countered by a man who was credited with introducing the National Polio Surveillance Project (NPSP). The project, started in 1997, led to the elimination of the wild polio virus type 2 by 1999, which caused one of the most debilitating varieties of polio in India. More importantly, if the reportedly clean, honest politics of AAP has to be countered then BJP has to focus on someone whose image and reputation is equally untarnished. It comes as no surprise, that “he is too good, non-corrupt and straightforward to be the face of a party such as the BJP.” Narendra Modi probably factored all this in while he canvassed for his choice of CM in Delhi polls.