Replacing underperforming sitting MLAs, barring its councillors from contesting to “avoid negativity” on their lack of performance in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) — the BJP is considering several approaches to pick candidates for the Delhi Assembly polls slated for early next year, it is learnt.

Throwing its preparations into the next gear, the BJP Tuesday named national vice-president and Lok Sabha MP Baijayant Panda as the incharge and Ghaziabad MP Atul Garg co-incharge for the polls. Party sources said Panda and Garg, picked by the national leadership to oversee preparations, were likely to “take charge” over the weekend.

The political stand-off in the constitution of the MCD Standing Committee — the all-powerful executive wing whose nod is required to deliver developmental projects — has hurt the BJP councillors image as much as the AAP, according to party sources. The lack of the Standing Committee and its repercussions on the BJP councillors were among the issues flagged at the Delhi BJP’s ‘Chintan Baithak’, held in Ranthambore last month, they added.