To upset the applecart of ruling Congress in the national Capital, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded a ‘team’ of seven young faces for the April 10 lok Sabha polls. Including its State unit president Dr Harsh Vardhan, the party has nominated Meenakshi lekhi, Ramesh Bidhuri, Pravesh Verma, Manoj Tiwari, Mahesh Giri and Udit Raj who are all less than 55 years of age with mastery in their respective fields. Barring Ramesh Bidhuri, who had unsuccessfully contested the 2009 lok Sabha polls, the remaining six candidates are new to parliamentary polls. Further, lekhi, Giri, Tiwari and Udit Raj are even first-timers in any form of electoral politics. At present, all seven constituencies in the Capital are represented by the Congress in the lok Sabha.
The party has entrusted Dr Harsh Vardhan to take on Congress heavyweight and Union Minister Kapil Sibal from Chandni Chowk. 52-year-old Vardhan has been a five-time MlA from Krishna Nagar in East Delhi and he will be venturing into parliamentary polls for the first time. On the other hand, lekhi is a noted lawyer and socio-political activist and has worked on several important cases being an active member of the BJP. She is the daughter-in-law of eminent lawyer Prem Nath lekhi. lekhi will contest against former Union Minister and two-time sitting MP Ajay Maken.
Manoj Tiwari, who joined the BJP before Delhi Assembly polls last year, has been pitched from Poorvanchali-dominated North East Delhi. He will be taking on senior Congress leader JP Aggarwal. 51-year-old Tiwari on Sunday admitted to being a political greenhorn but said he entered politics with a noble objective. Vardhan described Tiwari as the face of Poorvanchal, saying several people got employment after he took the Bhojpuri movie industry to prominence. Art of living practitioner Mahesh Giri has been nominated as the BJP candidate from East Delhi constituency which is considered a stronghold of sitting MP Sandeep Dikshit, the son of former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. Giri has been the International Director of Art of living and a member of the BJP for the last one year.
Dalit leader Udit Raj, will contest from North West Delhi. He will contest against Union Minister Krishna Tirath. A former Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer, Raj has worked for the uplift of the Dalit community besides working for the rights of the Government and non-government professionals. He, however, has a controversial background. Raj organised a conversion ceremony in which Dalits were ‘converted’ to Buddhism. He has also organised other conversion events, including one at Chennai on December 6, 2002. These conversion activities have been criticised by many as being ‘deceptive’ and an ‘exercise in self-promotion’.
Mehrauli MlA Parvesh Verma, the son of the former Delhi Chief Minister, late Sahib Singh Verma, will contest from West Delhi against Congress’ Poorvanchali face, Mahabal Mishra. Similarly, Ramesh Bidhuri will contest from South Delhi parliamentary constituency. A four-time MlA from Tughlaqabad, Bidhuri had lost the last lS elections by 90,000-odd votes to Congress’ Ramesh Kumar in South Delhi.