The Hindu : New Delhi News : New caste combination may upset BJP's equation

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 21, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

New caste combination may upset BJP's equation

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, APRIL 20. Although the poll predictions have put the Bharatiya Janata Party ahead in the East Delhi Lok Sabha constituency, but the emergence of the new caste combination in the Congress camp could upset the rival Bharatiya Janata Party's calculations. The saffron party has benefited in the past from the failure of the Congress to put up the right combination in this prestigious seat.

In fact, unlike the 1996 Lok Sabha polls, when the Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, who contested the parliamentary polls and lost by a margin of around 40,000 votes due to internal party sabotage, the situation is quite different this time. Under the present circumstances, the Chief Minister has a good hold over the party MLAs in the East Delhi constituency. Majority of the 16 sitting Congress MLAs and Councillors from East Delhi are with the Chief Minister and are likely to work for the success of her son, Sandeep Dikshit. Being a Brahmin and belonging a well-respected political family with roots in Uttar Pradesh, this is likely to work in favour of the Congress candidate. The BJP has always been fielding Brahmin candidates from this constituency and they have been winning for the past three times. During the last elections, the Congress had fielded the former Lieutenant-Governor of Delhi, H.L. Kapur, who lost to his rival, Lal Bihari Tiwari, by a huge margin.

During the 1998 polls when Ms. Dikshit had contested, the Brahmin voter came out in large numbers resulting in the highest poll percentage of 51 per cent in the constituency. Insiders in the party feel that only a Brahmin candidate from the Congress could be successful in bringing out the dormant Brahmin voters of the Congress out to vote. This combined with the huge presence of Muslim voters and division in the Hindu vote would work to the advantage of the Congress immensely and result in the party gaining edge over its rival. In fact, the young face of Mr. Dikshit, backed by the popularity of the Chief Minister, would be somewhat successful in weaning away the youth between the age group of 18 to 35 years into the Congress fold to ensure a favourable outcome. In fact, the party also has the advantage of having youth leaders in Outer Delhi who are part of the Delhi Assembly. The Education Minister, Arvinder Singh Lovely, who holds considerable influence in his area and other parts of the constituency, leads this lot. His organisational skills and ability to take the workers along would work to the advantage of Mr. Dikshit. On the other hand, the experienced Finance Minister, A.K. Walia and the Industry Minister, Mangat Ram Singhal, also hold considerable influence in their respective areas.

In fact, while Mr. Bihari would be faced with the anti-incumbency factor, Mr. Dikshit would be presented as a fresh face who does not have any controversial past. The entry of Mr. Dikshit has already enlivened workers in the area and the witness to this was the huge workers meeting held at Gandhi Nagar last night. For the first time, nearly 4,000 active workers where a proper strategy was planned and put in place attended the meeting. Coupled with this, the appeal of Ms. Dikshit among the Poorvanchal vote bank would also being about a division of votes in this category that has in the past voted en mass for the BJP. The Congress would have to utilise the services of the Poorvanchal leader and sitting MLA, Mahabal Mishra, effectively in this constituency to dent the BJP vote bank. Another section that needs to be taken care is the Gujjar vote bank and for this the party would have to seek the services of a prominent Gujjar leader, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, who is the Nationalist Congress Party MLA from Badarpur.

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