The Hindu : New Delhi News : Congress may face a backlash from Vaish community

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Apr 19, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Congress may face a backlash from Vaish community

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, APRIL 18. The denial of any representation to the Vaish community in the distribution of party tickets for the seven Lok Sabha seats of Delhi is bound to create problems for the Congress party and particularly for some of its candidate in the Parliamentary elections. While the party has cited non-availability of a good Vaish candidate as the reason for this move, it remains to be seen how much of this theory is bought by the community.

The party had denied ticket to the former Member of Parliament, J.P. Aggarwal, in view of strong opposition from within the party and the local leaders of Chandni Chowk constituency. However, it could not find a suitable Vaish candidate to be fielded from this Walled City constituency and decided to go ahead with the candidature of eminent lawyer, Kapil Sibal. There is a little doubt that the Punjabi flavour is strong in the list of Congress candidates and this could annoy the Vaish community who feel being let down by the Congress. In fact, the community should also share the blame for denial of ticket to anybody from within as it failed to come up with the consensus candidate. The Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded Union Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs, Vijay Goel, from the Sadar seat and he holds strong influence among the Vaish community.

In fact, the brunt of this ticket denial could well be borne by Mr. Sibal in the Chandni Chowk seat where the community has a strong presence running into nearly 70,000 votes.

If the strong resentment continues in this shape then the Congress could well be in trouble in the Chandni Chowk seat, a scenario Mr. Sibal would not want to take place. Although, Mr. Sibal has the support of the sitting Congress MLAs and Councillors from this constituency, it would be important for him to have Vaish leaders on his side in order to proceed smoothly.

In fact, Mr. Sibal could face trouble in shape of another ticket aspirant and Vaish leader, Arjun Kumar. Mr. Kumar was a strong contender for the ticket but lost the race finally to a better-connected Mr. Sibal. It remains to be seen what his role would be in Mr. Sibal's election despite knowing the fact that he does not carry a great damage potential but some nuisance value.

On the other hand, the Sadar seat Congress candidate and former Union Minister, Jagdish Tytler, who is riding on a high wave, could also face the wrath of the Vaish community in his constituency. With the Vaish leader in shape of his rival, Mr. Tytler could have a tough time enrolling the support of the Vaish samaj, which is significant for victory in this small constituency where small margins are name of the game. Mr. Tytler is surely a worried man and has been making a point to keep the Vaish community in good humour. In fact, his supporters point out that the former Union Minister had begun working among the community long back, as there were indications, that Mr. Aggarwal might not make it to the final round.

However, insiders in the party informed that the party high command is also aware of the situation and has also drawn up some plans for the same. It is understood that some kind of assurance has been given to the Vaish community or even Mr. Aggarwal that their interests would be taken care of in future by adjusting them in the organisational set up in the post-election scenario.

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