The BJP and the Congress are chalking out their strategies to counter the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s advance in the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections and checkmate Arvind Kejriwal in New Delhi seat. The AAP has already launched an intensive campaign while the BJP and Congress are yet to hit the starting blocks. Sources in the BJP and the Congress maintained that they will leave no stone unturned to ensure the defeat of Kejriwal in New Delhi Assembly seat as that would go a long way in arresting the upsurge of AAP in the Capital.
The two parties are burning midnight oil to find suitable candidates for New Delhi seat, which Kejriwal had won by over 25,000 votes against three-time Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit in the last elections. The BJP’s Vijendra Gupta, who secured 17,952 votes but was pushed to third position. The parties are mulling to put celebrities against Kejriwal as that would force him to spend more time in New Delhi seat. The BJP is also toying with the idea to pitch AAP rebel Ashwini Upadhyay against Kejriwal and expect sparks to fly in the run up to the polls.
The most stunning result of 2013 Assembly elections was Dikshit’s crushing loss to Kejriwal. It was also for the first time that the winning candidate had defeated his nearest rival by such a huge margin. It may be noted that in 1993, BJP’s Kirti Azad polled 47.82 per cent against Congress candidate Brij Mohan Bama, who secured 34.48 per cent votes. But Dikshit defeated BJP candidate Kirti Azad in 1998 by securing 47.76 per cent votes. The runner-up candidate managed to secure 34.02 per cent votes in 1998. She won the seat again by a comfortable margin by defeating Azad’s wife Poonam in 2003 elections. Dikshit retained the seat in 2008 by securing 52.20 per cent votes against BJP’s Vijay Jolly, who polled 33.85 per cent votes.
After Dikshit has amply made it clear that she is not going to contest the upcoming election, there are about a dozen people who have sought Congress ticket for contesting from the New Delhi seat. Among the prominent leaders, who want to contest from New Delhi, are Sarojni Nagar Market Association president Ashok Randhawa, local leader Yogesh Malik, prominent Valmiki leader R N Chandelia, former DSIDC chairman Ramesh Sabharwal and senior Congress leader Radha Raman’s grandson Prabhat.