In 2014 Lok Sabha elections, BJP won all seven Delhi seats

The first meeting of the BJP Delhi unit's core group held on Saturday evening to stratagise on the Lok Sabha elections did not see the participation of two of its parliamentarians while others reached the event in the last minute.

The first such meeting was presided over by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharama, who has been appointed the party's election in-charge in the national capital.

Party sources told IANS that north-west Delhi's Member of Parliament Udit Raj and Union Minister Vijay Goel skipped the meeting while Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari reached minutes before Ms Sitharaman was about to end her speech.

The sources said the party's west Delhi MP Pravesh Verma arrived after the meeting ended.

Besides Ms Sithraman, the meeting was attended by co-in-charge Jaibhan Singh Pawaiya, Shyam Jaju, Tarun Chugh and other members of the 16-member core group.

Vijay Goel, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, is a Rajya Sabha member from Rajasthan.

Most of the attendees in the meeting whom IANS spoke said it was an organisational affair. But a senior party functionary said, "This shows their seriousness."

Another party leader said Ms Sitharaman oversaw the party's preparedness for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. She told them the BJP cannot afford to lose even a single parliamentary seat, the leader said.

In 2014, the BJP won all the seven Delhi seats with most of its candidates winning by a margin of over one lakh votes.

Sources said Ms Sitharaman will soon start district-wise meetings and her focus would be on looking into complaints by the party workers.

"She told party leaders to mobilise the workers at booth level. We have to reach every voter with the achievements of the Modi government and failures of the AAP government," a party leader said.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has said it will contest all the seven constituencies without any alliance with Congress, which recently appointed former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit as its state chief.