Union Human Resources Development Minister Smriti Zubin Irani, nee Malhotra, has emerged as the frontrunner for the Delhi Chief Minister's position in the event the Bharatiya Janata Party comes to power. Though the BJP has declared that it would not name its Chief Ministerial nominee in the national capital, a section of top leadership is keen that Irani should be fielded against Arvind Kejriwal from the New Delhi Assembly segment, as she is the best bet of the BJP to take on the Aam Aadmi Party chief on his own turf. Incidentally, some Congress leaders are of the view that former Union Sports Minister Ajay Maken, who was the Member of Parliament from the New Delhi Lok Sabha seat, should also be nominated to contest against Kejriwal, although Maken has denied that there was any truth in this.

The thinking amongst a section of top BJP leadership is that a strong nominee is needed to take on Kejriwal, whose party is likely to be the BJP's biggest challenger in the February poll. If Kejriwal gets confined to his constituency and has to answer some tough questions, the AAP's poll efforts would be affected. One of the persons who can ground Kejriwal is Irani, who is not only a known face but someone seen as a great fighter. Thus she would be indeed a very good choice.

The Delhi Assembly elections, which are due in February, are being seen by all parties as very crucial since the national capital is considered to be a good barometer to judge the public mood. The national capital has been with the BJP since the last seven months. Therefore, a section within the BJP feels that a known public face should be brought into the fray to represent the new look party after its makeover following the complete takeover by the second generation leaders.

Smriti Irani, who belongs to Delhi, contested her maiden election against Kapil Sibal from Chandni Chowk in 2004 and lost. But much has changed since then and the BJP has consolidated its position all over the country. Most of its success has come at the expense of the Congress, which was reduced to a mere 44 seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. In the Parliamentary elections, Irani took on Rahul Gandhi from Amethi and gave him the run for his money, although she lost. But she was rewarded for her hard work by being inducted into the Union Cabinet.

Irani is being seen as the potential CM nominee in Delhi primarily because the local unit of the BJP does not have a charismatic leader who can catch the imagination of the masses. The party's high command is reluctant to rope in someone like Meenakshi Lekhi or Harsh Vardhan because in the event of the BJP forming the government in Delhi, they will have to quit their Lok Sabha seats, thereby necessitating a byelection, which is something many leaders do not want. Therefore, by bringing in Irani, who is a Rajya Sabha member, no such risk would need to be taken.

The calculation of those pitching for her is that she is an iconic figure for the middle class and has very high rating amongst women due to her unforgettable role of Tulsi Virani in Ekta Kapoor's blockbuster soap opera, Kyunki Saas bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi. Her successful act in reversing the Four Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP) in the Delhi University has also won her a lot of admirers amongst young voters and college students. Her added advantage is that she is perceived to be amongst the very trusted people of the Prime Minister and thus could be a very acceptable face.

However, Irani's selection could also annoy some ambitious leaders within the BJP who feel that this time if a new face has to be selected, they could very much figure in the list of probables. Though amongst seniors Jagdish Mukhi is considered to be the safest and best nominee, the new look party may want to make its beginning with a younger person. Like Sheila Dikshit before her, Irani has a multi-cultural and cosmopolitan background. Her mother is a Bengali and father a Punjabi, while she herself is married to a Parsi.

Sources said that one of the reasons why she had gone to meet an astrologer in Rajasthan recently was to ascertain what the future held for her. She was apparently told that she had nothing to lose and whenever she was perceived to be a loser, she actually gained. After her Lok Sabha defeat in 2004, she got Rajya Sabha. After the Amethi loss in 2014, she was elevated to the Union Cabinet. She has very bright stars.

If Irani is indeed elected as the Chief Minister, she would be the third woman nominee after Sushma Swaraj and Sheila Dikshit to occupy the august office. Swaraj took over as the Delhi CM in October 1998 after both Atal Behari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani reversed their decision to bring back Madan Lal Khurana as the Chief Minister in place of Sahib Singh Verma ahead of the Assembly polls. The decision was influenced by Pramod Mahajan, who was keen to stop Khurana from becoming the CM again and at the same time wanted Swaraj out of the Union Cabinet. Though Mahajan succeeded in his plan, the BJP lost to the Congress, rejuvenated by the induction of Sonia Gandhi as the party president earlier that year.

Sonia Gandhi was initially not inclined to back Dikshit for the Chief Minister's position since she had lost four Parliament elections before that. However, both Makhan Lal Fotedar and Arjun Singh managed to convince her that Dikshit would be the best person for the job as she fitted the cosmopolitan requirement. Sheila was herself a Punjabi Sikh married to an Uttar Pradesh Brahmin. Her daughter had tied the knot to a Muslim.

Many BJP leaders, when contacted, declined to talk on record and maintained that no firm decision on the matter had been taken as yet and Irani's candidacy would finally depend on what view the Prime Minister, Amit Shah and other senior BJP leaders finally take.