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Some BJP seats withheld due to differences

By Sujay Mehdudia

NEW DELHI NOV.5 . The list of 35 candidates announced by the Bharatiya Janata Party for the Delhi Assembly polls does not give adequate representation to the youth, people from the Poorvanchal and other sections of society. In fact, a close scrutiny indicates that people from the Punjabi and Vaish communities dominate the list. Interestingly, a majority of the names withheld belong to areas represented by the Delhi unit party chief, Madan Lal Khurana, the Union Labour Minister, Sahib Singh Verma, and the Union Minister of State for Sports, Vijay Goel.

If the four seats given to the Akali Dal are added, then the number tickets to members of the Punjabi community goes up to 13, a community represented by Mr. Khurana. Interestingly, leaders of the party's youth wing, who had demanded 10 seats, have been left in the cold and the party would have to make an effort to take care of their interests in the second list. With Mr. Verma reportedly having taken an adamant stand on the Outer Delhi candidates, even the hi-profile Saket Assembly seat could not be cleared. While Mr. Verma is learnt to be backing the candidature of Ram Prakash, the local people have voiced their support for the BJP secretary, Jagdish Mamgain. However, Central leaders are trying to ensure that the Delhi BJP vice-president, Vijay Jolly, gets the nod. Similarly, a senior leader maintained that a dispute has arisen over the Malviya Nagar seat where the party is not keen on fielding the former Transport Minister, Rajinder Gupta, and the name of Sher Singh Daggar, considered close to South Delhi MP, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, is being floated. In the Kamla Nagar constituency also, the party is not favouring the former MLA, P.K. Chandla, considered a man of integrity, and the name of Suresh Gupta is being floated.

The party has still kept its channels open for an alliance with the Shiv Sena. It is understood that while the State Election Committee had cleared the name of Ashok Aggarwal from Model Town and Dharamvir Sharma from Chandni Chowk, Kamla Devi from Seemapuri and Madan Lal Balmiki from Sultanpur Majra, due to last minute dispute, the announcement has been withheld and would now be taken up with the next list. Interestingly, only one seat that of Mr.Khurana has been cleared in the Sadar Parliamentary constituency, which is represented by the Delhi BJP president himself.

In Outer Delhi, 13 seats have been cleared and a dispute has arisen over issue of fielding Mr. Verma's brother, Azad Singh. In East Delhi also, of the 20 seats, only 10 has been cleared. But the party would have to do a lot of explaining with regard to the lack of representation to the Poorvanchal people in the first list. .

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