The Hindu : New Delhi News : Early polls prospect raises Delhi Congress, BJP hopes

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Saturday, Jun 21, 2008
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Early polls prospect raises Delhi Congress, BJP hopes

Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

Congress banks on nuke deal; BJP on better ties

NEW DELHI: The possibility of an early Lok Sabha poll precipitated by the nuclear deal issue would have all the trappings of drastically impacting the political scenario in Delhi which is also headed for Assembly elections later this year. As both the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections could be held simultaneously for the first time in the event of a snap poll, both the Congress and the BJP are hopeful that this would tilt the scales in their favour.

Several Congress leaders are viewing the prospect of a simultaneous election as a godsend. They believe that it would take the focus off the burning issues of price rise and anti-incumbency which the Sheila Dikshit Government would be faced with. “In case the nuclear deal issue results in a snap poll, it would benefit us as we would go to the people on it ,” said a senior Congress leader here on Friday. As for price rise, many Congress leaders believe that people understand that the global commodity prices have had a major role to play in the matter and neither the Centre nor the Delhi Government could have prevented it.

At the local level, Congress leaders believe that in the worst case scenario the party could get about 20 of the 70 seats in the Delhi Assembly in the event of an early election. However, they are hopeful that things could change with the resolution of the nuclear deal issue and the probable projection of a new face for taking the party forward in Delhi. This, they believe, would take the sting out of the BJP’s attack as it has primarily been targeting the Chief Minister on most issues. Also they insist that unlike the BJP, which has many chief ministerial aspirants, the party leadership is clearly divided among those who want to fight the Delhi Assembly and the Lok Sabha elections.

In the BJP, there is a general feeling that simultaneous polls would benefit the party as it definitely has an upper hand and ‘the winner takes all’ approach would gain currency. “The winning side normally stands to gain in such situations,” said a senior party leader. Moreover, he added, such a scenario would, contrary to wider perception, reduce the friction and bickering within the party as the various senior leaders would have to select between the Lok Sabha and Assembly seats. There is a general consensus in the party right now that no matter what the Congress does or says, people would not forget the issue of price rise soon.

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