The Hindu : New Delhi News : BSP entry makes Congress nervous

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 24, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

BSP entry makes Congress nervous

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, APRIL 23. The Bahujan Samaj Party's decision to field candidates for all seven Lok Sabha seats from Delhi is bound to cause anxious moments to the Congress, especially the candidates in East Delhi and Outer Delhi. With pockets of influence in these two Parliamentary constituencies, the BSP has the potential to upset the Congress applecart.

While the party has fielded Captain Bharat in Outer Delhi, it has given the ticket for East Delhi to Chaudhary Balraj, an influential Gujjar leader. For the other seats, it has fielded Chaudhary Bikram Singh in New Delhi, Sardar Surjeet Singh in South Delhi, B.P. Nagpal in Sadar, Gyan Prakash Saini in Chandni Chowk and S. P. Singh from Karol Bagh. For the Moti Nagar Assembly segment, it has fielded one Naveen.

The BSP's vote share in Delhi has been on the rise ever since the last few elections and the party has been gaining ground in Outer and east Delhi constituencies. In fact, during the recent Assembly elections, the BSP had cornered nearly 9 per cent of the total votes in the 40 Assembly seats it contested. Its share was 3.5 in the 1999 Lok Sabha polls and 6 per cent in the 2002 MCD polls. It has strong pockets of influence in East Delhi that include Narela, Nand Nagri, Trilokpuri, Babarpur, Seelampur and Seemapuri Assembly segments.

In the Outer Delhi constituency, its area of influence includes Badarpur, Dr. Ambedkar Nagar, Bawana, Madipur, Sultanpuri, Mangolpuri Assembly segments.

Although the BSP candidates are not in a position to win the elections but they could play a crucial role in the victory margins of the Congress candidates.

In fact, it is understood that the Congress is already trying to impress upon the BSP candidates to either withdraw from the contest or go soft in the campaign in order not to damage the cause of the secular forces. What is most worrying for the Congress is that majority of the candidates put up by the BSP belong to the influential Gujjar community that has a considerable presence in the two biggest constituencies of Delhi.

In fact, it was the Gujjar leader and now sitting MLA, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, who was responsible for the downfall of Delhi's strongman and former Union Minister, H..K..L..Bhagat. Mr. Bidhuri had contested the 1991 Lok Sabha polls as an independent and had polled nearly 1.80 lakh votes resulting in the victory of the BJP candidate and end to Mr. Bhagat's political career.

With Gujjars are likely to play a crucial role in the East Delhi and Outer Delhi polls, the Congress is worried that the community might once again opt to place its loyalties with the BSP candidates.

In addition to this, they would get support from the traditional BSP vote bank succeeding in making a big dent into the Congress votes and in turn benefit the BJP.

In fact, the Congress is handicapped by the lack of any credible Gujjar leader in its ranks who could unite the community and bring it under a single umbrella.

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