The Hindu : Goel lashes out at Prem Singh

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Mar 18, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Goel lashes out at Prem Singh

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, MARCH 17. The Union Minister of State for Sports and Youth Affairs, Vijay Goel, today rebuffed the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president, Chaudhary Prem Singh, for meddling in the internal affairs of the Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party and asked him to set his own house in order first. "Before talking about the BJP candidates and their credentials, Mr. Prem Singh should first decide on his own party candidates for the polls,'' Mr. Goel remarked.

Reacting sharply to comments by Mr. Prem Singh about shifting of his constituency from Chandni Chowk to Sadar, Mr. Goel said if the DPCC president thought he was a big leader in Delhi then he should contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls from any one of the seven constituencies here. "Winning from the same Assembly seat with caste combinations in his favour does not make him a big leader. He is scared of contesting from any other constituency and even from the Karol Bagh (SC) constituency as he knows that he would stand exposed,'' he added.

Further, Mr. Goel said that Mr. Prem Singh and his colleagues have not been able to finalise their party candidates for Delhi and it reflected poorly on the Congress and its leaders. He said there were dozens of cases where senior leaders from both the Congress and the BJP have changed their constituencies and it was an accepted norm. It is the prerogative of the party to put up a candidate from whichever constituency it deems fit.

Mr. Goel said he had contested his first election from the Sadar Parliamentary constituency and is a resident of Roop Nagar that falls under this seat. His father, Charti Lal Goel, who is a former Speaker of the Delhi Assembly, had contested and won from the Model Town Assembly segment that again falls under the Sadar Parliamentary seat. "This is my home constituency and I had defeated the former Union Minister, Jagdish Tytler, from this seat once and am prepared to repeat this feat again,'' the BJP leader said, adding that he had carried out several developmental activities in Chandni Chowk and the people of the area had also appreciated his work. He said winning from the Chandni Chowk constituency for two consecutive times was no mean feat and if his party had decided to field him from the Sadar seat then it should not trouble Mr. Prem Singh or the Congress party.

Mr. Goel said he would highlight issues concerning the Sadar constituency and apprise the people of the indifferent and discriminatory attitude of the Delhi Government and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi towards this area. Asked if he had the blessing of Mr. Khurana, Mr. Goel said that as Mr. Khurana was holding a Constitutional post at present, he would not like to involve his name in any political activity. However, the party cadres and the people of Sadar were behind him and are working for his victory at the hustings, he added.

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