As the resentment over ticket distribution for civic election continues to grow in the Congress camp for the upcoming municipal polls slated for April 23, the State leadership has closed the main gate of the party office at Rajiv Bhavan at Rowse Avenue to avoid any possible vandalism by party workers.
The decision to lock the main entrance of the party office was taken in the wake of vandalism that had taken place on Tuesday as the supporters of candidates who were denied the tickets, vent their ire.
Senior leaders of Delhi Congress — Arvinder Singh lovely, AK Walia and Haroon Yusuf — too have expressed their dissatisfaction over the ticket distribution and raised concern over the functioning of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee. Walia came out openly with allegations of “irregularities” in ticket distribution and threatened to quit the party over the issue. Also, Ambrish Gautam, three-time MlA of the party and ex-deputy Speaker of the Delhi Assembly quit the Congress and joined BJP alleging that he was “not consulted” in ticket distribution.
More trouble is brewing for Delhi Congress as former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has also refused to campaign for the party. The news came after several leaders expressed their resentment over ticket distributions for the polls.
“The way party has distributed tickets will have devastating impact and it will finish party in the national capital,” said an annoyed party worker who was not allowed to enter the party office.
Several party workers on Tuesday staged protests and ransacked offices. The workers, who gathered at the party’s office on Wednesday, were enraged over denial of party ticket to their leader from Kamla Nagar ward in North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NMC).
Earlier the Congress chief spokesperson Sharmistha Mukherjee and former Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) president Subhash Chopra had scotched rumours of report of veteran leader AK Walia threatening to quit the Congress and alleged that such things were being spread by the media.
“We have contacted 39,000 workers to know their favorites before awarding party symbol. We do have all the recordings to prove that tickets have been distributed in transparent manner. The controversies over irregularities in distributing symbols are baseless,” she added.
Subhash Chopra, former DPCC president said everyone is happy with the way the party has distributed tickets. Further stressing on Congress vision to promote women empowerment he said, “The party has given tickets to 144 women. Two among them Anisha Gupta and Anita Babbar are doctors.”
A senior leader on condition of anonymity said that the morale of the workers are down because of these developments. “The party has split into several camps now. A camp of those failed to secure ticket are being led by senior leaders whose advice in selection process has been ignored,” the leader said.
The BJP has been ruling the MCD since 2007. The last polls were held in 2012.The much-awaited polls will decide the fate of 272 councillors. While NDMC and SMDC have 104 seats each, EDMC has 64 seats.The total number of electorate for the civic polls stands at 1,32,10,206, which include 73,15,915 men, 58,93,418 women and 793 voters in the other category, according to the state election commission.