When Dr Harsh Vardhan Goel, 59, was a Class XI student in Daryaganj's Victoria Jubilee Senior Secondary School he dropped his surname. He cites the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's pan-Indian ethos as his inspiration. In retrospect, it may have been a wise decision.



On October 23, he trumped another Goel, Delhi BJP president Vijay Goel, to emerge as the party's candidate for Delhi Chief Minister. There was, of course, the unseen hand of the RSS, which the ENT surgeon has been a member of since he was a teenager, but the BJP sees in Dr Harsh Vardhan a squeaky-clean middle class icon, unbeaten in elections and with tremendous administrative experience. Just the man for a tough tri-cornered electoral contest on December 4.

Delhi BJP chief ministerial candidate Dr Harsh Vardhan driving a car. Photo by Sandeep Unnithan Delhi BJP chief ministerial candidate Dr Harsh Vardhan driving a car. Photo by Sandeep Unnithan

The India Today Group-ORG opinion poll predicts BJP wresting Delhi from Congress in the forthcoming Assembly elections. The India Today Group-ORG opinion poll predicts BJP wresting Delhi from Congress in the forthcoming Assembly elections.

The India Today Group-ORG poll also reflects public choice for the next chief minister of Delhi The India Today Group-ORG poll also reflects public choice for the next chief minister of Delhi

Dr Harsh Vardhan has to not only unseat the formidable three-term CM Sheila Dikshit but deal with the disruptive guerrilla tactics of the street-smart Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).The India Today Group-ORG poll shows how this interesting contest will possibly play out. The BJP is poised to sweep the elections with 36 of the 70 seats. However, AAP's projected 23 per cent vote, impressive for a party that did not exist until a year ago, nets it only 8 seats. Clearly AAP's vote share is not enough to scale the 30 per cent they need to win more seats in a triangular contest. The Congress with a 30 per cent vote share-slightly behind the BJP's 33 per share-- gets 26 seats. [The India Today-C Voter Mood of the Nation poll in August 2013, predicted both national parties tied at 28 seats each with the AAP bagging nine seats and a 17 per cent vote share]The triangular contest is likely to be severe and unpredictable in at least 20 Assembly constituencies in Delhi. Victory margins here were as narrow as 200 votes in 2008. The Congress won 13 of these seats, the BJP won six and the BSP got one. This time around, AAP's impact can only be guessed.Social commentator Santosh Desai calls Delhi's elections, a clash of three very different ideas. The BJP and Congress represent the old order. The AAP with its new ideas of funding, and candidate selection, promises a completely different brand of politics. The faction-ridden state unit of the BJP will find it difficult to translate its national momentum into the city. But one thing is certain, this battle will prove difficult for Sheila Diskhit to win. "In any other year, she would just have nudged past the finish line by the sheer dint of her persona, she is a difficult person to dislike and has a natural ability to carry fence sitters with her."If Harsh Vardhan does indeed manage to carry the day through, the story of this victory could well be scripted from his modest two-storeyed home tucked in a densely-congested bylane in East Delhi's Krishna Nagar. The house is easy to spot only because it is besieged by a crowd of ticket-seekers who have queued up since early morning. 'Doctor saab's' cellphone, which he often personally answers, rings without a break. He gets up to 60 phone calls an hour. The crowd of beseeching hopefuls cling to him like iron filings to a magnet, as the CM-hopeful swallows a frugal breakfast of poha and pomegranate and slides behind the wheel of his silver Swift DZire with the '0007' number plate. After his anointment, his homemaker wife Nutan campaigns for him in his Krishna Nagar constituency while he looks at the big picture.The ticket-seekers continue to press against the vehicle windows as Harsh Vardhan heads towards the party headquarters on 11 Ashoka Road. The doctor, who has promised to wrest the city back for the BJP, lists what he's looking for in candidates -- 'a clean image, experience and winnability.'As he crosses the filthy Yamuna and the traffic surging through the smoggy Delhi morning, he reflects on his challenges and ending the BJP's 15 year exile in Delhi's wilderness. He rues Sheila Dikshit's bull run which, he says, will only be remembered for skyrocketing prices, corruption, a dying Yamuna on which the government has already spent Rs 8000 crore and a city that is increasingly unsafe for women. [The poll survey lists the present government's biggest failures as price rise-38 per cent, crime against women- 21 per cent and corruption- 19 per cent]."Fifteen years is a long time," he reflects. "I've visited Kobe in Japan, it was rebuilt after a devastating earthquake in just five years," he says, not taking his eyes off the road. Transparency is the cornerstone for the doctor's blueprint to rebuild the city. All government decisions will be put up online, he promises."If an entire transaction, whether it is the application for a license or the contract for building a road is put up in the public eye, it will immediately reduce corruption," he says. Other poll promises include freedom for bureaucrats but with accountability, a thrust on renewable energy and medical insurance for all.The thrust however comes from his approachable, down-to-earth style. Shasak nahin sevak [worker, not a ruler] said saffron BJP posters of Harsh Vardhan that appeared across Delhi days after his anointment as CM candidate.The BJP gamble, albeit a delayed one, of presenting a clean, non-controversial face may already be paying off. The India Today-ORG Marg survey ranks Harsh Vardhan third behind Sheila Dikshit's still lofty 28 per cent ratings for CM and Arvind Kejriwal's 22 per cent. Impressive for a politician whose candidature was announced when the survey was almost half-complete. It does indicate another possibility, he could have had a higher rating if his party had made up their minds earlier. He responds to a query on this with a diplomatic smile. Harsh Vardhan has always been a late entrant, a reputed ENT surgeon who, in addition to a flourishing practise, was also a mandal karyavaha in charge of eight shakhas in East Delhi. He supervised their day-to-day administrative activities and conducted meetings never attracting controversy. He caught the eye of the RSS who deputed him to fight the 1993 Assembly elections on a BJP ticket from East Delhi's Krishna Nagar. He has held the seat for four consecutive terms.

BJP National Executive Member Seshadri Chari remembers Harsh Vardhan as a reluctant politician, one who could easily have been Chief Minister in 1996 when the BJP's Madan Lal Khurana quit after his name figured in the Jain Diaries controversy. "To our shock and surprise," he says, "Harsh Vardhan disappeared for two days. We simply couldn't find him. Sahib Singh Verma became CM instead."



Harsh Vardhan clearly had bigger things on his mind. It was during his stint as state health minister between 1993 and 1998, first under Khurana and later Verma, that he initiated the National Polio Surveillance Project in Delhi which, drop by drop, became the national polio eradication campaign. It has led to the elimination of Type 2 polio virus. "In January 2014, India will celebrate three years without polio," he says.



Harsh Vardhan pays obeisance to the BJP's trinity. His Twitter wallpaper has Atal Bihari Vajpayee, he cites LK Advani's frugal eating habits as an inspiration for a long and healthy life and Narendra Modi, he says, is not only a leader and a CM but definitely a future PM. "A phenomenon and an institution in politics."



Next month, Harsh Vardhan completes three decades as a doctor. It will also be the month that could mark the most important operation of his life.