The Hindu : New Delhi News : Delhi Cantonment battle a test for two ‘generals’

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Delhi Cantonment battle a test for two ‘generals’

Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

This time the elections are being held after a long gap of about a decade
“The issues for this election are the same as they would be for the Assembly elections”

NEW DELHI: Alongside deciding whether “the hand would rule” or the “lotus would blossom”, the Delhi Cantonment Board elections on Sunday would also be a test of the skills and nerves of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president J.P. Agarwal and his BJP counterpart Harsh Vardhan as they would provide the first opportunity to both these ‘generals’ to pit their skills against each other.

What makes the battle for the eight wards of Delhi Cantonment even more interesting is that this time the elections there are being held after a long gap of about a decade and so there is no “anti-incumbent” factor in particular.

While the Congress is fighting the polls on the plank that the development of the area has been ignored by sitting BJP MLA Karan Singh Tanwar, the BJP has all through accused the Congress Governments in the Centre and in Delhi of overlooking the interests the constituency and the Defence personnel residing there.

Dr. Vardhan, who is now into his third term as Delhi BJP president, is really upbeat about the prospects in the election.

He had last year declared that the Municipal Corporation of Delhi polls, which the BJP had gone on to sweep, were the ‘quarter-finals’ ahead of the ‘semi-final’ Delhi Assembly elections and the ‘final’ Lok Sabha polls.

And he believes that the Delhi Cantonment polls would be a fair indicator of the way Delhi is headed politically. “The issues for this election are the same as they would be for the Delhi Assembly elections – price rise, water and power shortage, poor sanitation and health and education facilities among others,” said Dr. Vardhan, who is among the major contenders from the BJP for the post of Chief Minister if the party wins the Delhi Assembly election.

On the other hand, Mr Agarwal believes that with just 32 polling stations and 71 booths, the Delhi Cantonment polls due to its small sample size cannot be taken as an “opinion poll” ahead of the Delhi Assembly elections.

“I had started preparation for these polls about six months ago. The candidates were chosen on the basis of their track record of working in the party and their image among the people. We have played our part of management to the best of the ability.”

Incidentally, for Mr Agarwal, who had been entrusted the task of revamping the Delhi Congress by the party high command last year, this would also be the first litmus test on assuming charge.

Basics

While for the election, both the party presidents have worked hard following the basics to the last word, the results would show whether the anger of the people would be directed more towards the BJP legislator as the Congress believes, or towards the Congress for the various reasons BJP has campaigned hard on.

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