The Hindu : New Delhi News : BJP groping for candidate in Chandni Chowk

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Apr 05, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

BJP groping for candidate in Chandni Chowk

By Sujay Mehdudia

NEW DELHI, APRIL 4. Despite having cleared the names of candidates for six of the seven Lok Sabha seats in the Capital nearly a month ago, the Bharatiya Janata Party leadership has still not found a suitable candidate for the Chandni Chowk Parliamentary constituency. It is unable to find a candidate with the right combination needed to retain this seat held previously by the Union Minister of State for Sports and Youth Affairs, Vijay Goel.

Mr. Goel has this time opted for the Sadar Lok Sabha seat leaving the party in a fix over Chandni Chowk. The failure to name its candidate from this seat has set tongues wagging that the BJP was effectively contesting only six seats and had virtually given up the Chandni Chowk seat. Many within the party are of the view there was no need to delay the announcement of the candidate for so long as a new candidate would require adequate time to acquaint himself with the constituency. However, some party leaders insist this is a strategic move by the party and it was waiting for the Congress to field its candidate before taking any decision.

In fact, the party is elated over the decision of the Janata Dal (S) leader, Shoaib Iqbal, to contest from Chandni Chowk once again. Mr. Iqbal had requested the Congress to leave the seat for the Janata Dal (S) in the interest of opposition unity and for the sake of strengthening the secular forces. Speculation is rife that the party strategist, Sudhanshu Mittal, was interested in contesting from this seat at one point in time and was eagerly awaiting the Congress candidates' name. However, sources have ruled out the possibility of Mr. Mittal jumping into the fray at this juncture and are understood to have short-listed the names of certain party leaders for this seat.

It is believed that if Mr. Iqbal continues to be in the fray, the BJP could well field a Vaish. The strategy of the party is that the minority votes will get divided between the Janata Dal (S) and the Congress and the BJP candidate will manage to get a majority of the other votes. The constituency has a large concentration of Vaish community that could tilt the balance in favour of the party. The failure of the Congress to tame Mr. Iqbal has emboldened the party to go ahead with this view and the name of the BJP secretary, Vijender Kumar Gupta, has been short-listed for this purpose. On the other hand, the party is also toying with the idea of fielding a celebrity from here in order to make the contest a hi-profile one and difficult for the Congress. In this regard, the name of Smriti `Tulsi' Irani, too is being mentioned. It may be recalled that Ms. Irani joined the BJP before the Assembly elections in Delhi last year. Ms. Irani's appeal could cut across the masses as she is the protagonist of the popular soap opera, "Saas Bhi Kabhie Bahu Thi'' screened on Star Plus.

Another thinking within the party is to field a Muslim candidate who has a credible hold among the minority community and could divide the attention of this section of voters. In this connection, the name of Siraj Qureshi is being hotly debated. It is understood that the party will announce the name of its candidate from the Chandni Chowk seat as soon as the Congress makes its candidate known. A final decision with regard to this seat has been left to the central party leadership that is looking into all aspects before arriving at a consensus.

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