KIRAN BEDI: THE UNCONVENTIONAL POLITICIAN

In just over a week's time, Delhi is set to get a new Chief Minister -- from a non-political background -- as the Kiran Bedi and Arvind Kejriwal are the only true contenders for the post with Congress down and out.

While Kejriwal has been the CM before, for a period of 49 days, and everybody is quite familiar with his brand of politics and governance, all eyes are on Bedi.

In the past few weeks, I have seen a lot of her clips on news channels, which at times appeared to be weird, funny or plain ignorant. And I can safely say that she is indeed an unconventional leader.

However, at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rally here Sunday, I had a first hand experience with Bedi and her unconventional self.

At the DDA ground in Sector 14, Dwarka, the venue of Modi's rally, the BJP leaders were caught by surprise when the party's chief ministerial candidate threatened to end her speech midway as she was getting disturbed by the crowd chanting Modi's name.

The thousands of people gathered at sprawling ground were waiting eagerly for Modi, and were raising slogans praising him and the BJP at regular intervals as BJP candidates from many west Delhi assembly constituencies addressed the people one by one.

As Bedi was midway into her speech, news of the prime minister reaching the ground sent the crowds into a tizzy who started chanting his name.

At this point, Bedi took a long pause and waited for the crowd to settle down. However, when that did not happen, she resumed her speech but stopped again after a few seconds, visibly distracted and disturbed by the loud cheering.

She turned to the party leaders seated behind her on the dais and said, "I cannot speak like this", startling many of them.

Immediately, union minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy rushed to her side while frantically signalling with his hand, asking her to carry on.

But a reluctant Bedi repeated that she "cannot speak like this", forcing Rudy to whisper something in her ear.

Seconds later, Bedi regained her composure and finished her speech as the party leaders breathed a sigh of relief.

All's well that ends well, they say. However, if Bedi becomes the CM, it would be interesting to see how the BJP handles her.