The Hindu : New Delhi News : Maken makes the going tough for Jagmohan

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Apr 26, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Maken makes the going tough for Jagmohan

By Sujay Mehdudia

NEW DELHI, APRIL 25. The youngest Speaker of the Delhi Assembly and the Congress candidate from New Delhi Lok Sabha constituency, Ajay Maken, seems to have upset his opponent, the Union Tourism and Culture Minister, Jagmohan, by the manner in which he has been raising the issue of problems relating to the Central Government employees.

The response he has got in government colonies has put Mr. Jagmohan on the defensive and made the Bharatiya Janata Party jittery in this bastion.

What has dented Mr. Jagmohan's campaign against his opponent is the clean and honest image that Mr. Maken carries and his performance during his tenure as a Minister in the previous Sheila Dikshit Government.

It is for this reason that many within the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress were surprised by the counter attack launched by Mr. Jagmohan against Mr. Maken and more so the use of certain words that were not part of the soft-spoken Union Minister's vocabulary. The offensive launched by Mr. Maken with regard to the demands of the government employees and their working conditions has really caught the imagination of this segment that has the potential of upsetting all calculations in the New Delhi Lok Sabha seat.

Mr. Maken carries the advantage of having sitting Congress MLAs in Sarojni Nagar, Jangpura, Minto Road and Gole Market Assembly segments from where he hopes to get a good lead against his opponent.

In fact, what must be worrying Mr. Jagmohan is the indifferent attitude of the BJP workers who at present are not working actively for the Union Minister citing various reasons.

Then there is the stark reminder about the loss suffered by the BJP leader, Ram Bhaj in the Sarojni Nagar Assembly segment in the recent Assembly polls. Mr. Bhaj was over-confident about the support from government employees and that proved to be his undoing. "The government employees are not happy with the welfare policies of the NDA Government.

The freeze imposed on recruitment of new employees, the downsizing of the government and the continued retrenchment has badly affected the employees and future of their families. This is bound to become a major issue in these polls,'' remarked Mr. Maken.

Mr. Jagmohan has not been able to come up with concrete answers to the charges levelled by Mr. Maken with regard to the maltreatment of the government employees at the hands of the Vajpayee Government.

The "40 versus 80'' campaign too has introduced a new dimension in the contest. In the first instance, Mr. Jagmohan accused Mr. Maken of putting his age incorrectly and then challenged him for a Vaishno Devi trek up and down.

However, much to everybody's surprise, Mr. Jagmohan changed his look on the posters and pamphlets and one suddenly saw a much younger Jagmohan giving an impression that the young versus the old mantra had already ruffled the opposition.

Mr. Maken also has the advantage of being a young and popular political representative who had been at the helm of affairs in the Delhi Government when crucial reforms in the power and transport sector took place.

His clean record and easy accessibility have become his assets and are having an impact on both the young and old electorate.

The general feeling is that if Mr. Maken is able to win over the government employees, then things could become difficult for Mr. Jagmohan, who is already facing problems within the party.

However, the Sangh Parivar is understood to have decided to jump into the campaign for Mr. Jagmohan, a decision that could make the BJP cadres fall in line and work for their candidate.

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