No decision could be taken on the seat despite a heated discussion between Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Vijay Kumar Malhotra and Delhi BJP president Om Prakash Kohli late on Wednesday evening.

The bone of contention is the ‘appropriateness’ of BJP leader Vijay Goel’s candidacy for the seat.

At the meeting at Malhotra’s residence, where Arun Jaitley and Vijay Sharma were present, within minutes the otherwise polite discussion went out of hands, a party source said. Apparently, Kohli was for Goel’s candidature from the seat, while Malhotra strongly opposed it.

Malhotra insisted that the Punjabi dominated seat should be reserved for a Punjabi candidate and Goel should be given the ticket from the Chandni Chowk seat, which has a 16.5 per cent baniya (community to which Goel belongs) population.

The Punjabi population in the New Delhi constituency has increased to 20 per cent after the addition of Rajinder Nagar, Patel Nagar, Greater Kailash and other Punjabi dominated areas to it. In the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, out of the seven elected MPs in Delhi, five were from the Punjabi community.

But Kohli was of the opinion that these caste considerations should not play a role in deciding the ticket. “The caste factor cannot be the final criteria for selection of candidates,” he said.

In the meeting, Kohli also insisted that late Sahib Singh Verma’s son Parvesh Verma be given the ticket from the West Delhi seat. Sources say Malhotra was very upset with this choice too. He has been backing Janakpuri MLA Jagdish Mukhi for the seat. The West Delhi seat has 22 per cent Punjabi population.

After the two-hour meeting, Malhotra was visibly annoyed, and has reportedly conveyed his displeasure to higher ups in the party, who decided to postpone the list.

Meanwhile, Kohli denied that the list was withheld only because of the argument over the New Delhi seat.

“We wanted to discuss the list of the candidates with Thavar Chand Gehlot (in-charge for Delhi) before going to the party’s central election committee. Since he was not in town, it was not possible (to announce the list). Decision on the New Delhi seat was not the only factor,” Kohli told Newsline.

Malhotra toed a similar line: “Ability to win is the only criteria for selection. Since polling for Delhi is in the last phase, we have enough time to decide.”

Vijay Goel, meanwhile, was guarded about the entire episode: “There is no opposition to my candidature. I have fought Lok Sabha election from Sadar bazaar, New Delhi and Chandni Chowk. But I will abide by whatever the party decides.”