With the Election Commission giving its final nod after nominees’ scrutiny on Wednesday, candidates of South Delhi Parliamentary constituency are all set to go full throttle with their campaigns now. Having two-week time until their fate is sealed in ballots; the candidates have planned a series of back-to-back public meetings, pad yatras and roadshows.
While various campaigning strategies are rife among different parties, BJP’s contender from the seat, Ramesh Bidhuri has chalked out a ‘State and caste-based’ campaign plan. The sitting MlA from Tughlakabad Assembly Constituency, Bidhuri, has decided to bring in a number of heavyweights from the party. Not just that, Bidhuri intends to present these leaders only in areas where people can ‘relate to them the most’.
“We have around two lakh voters in the urbanised belts like Kalkaji, Tughlakabad and Sangam Vihar, where Punjabis are also present in sizeable numbers. So in that belt Arun Jaitley will meet the people and interact with them. Sushma Swaraj will be delivering speeches in the Palam and Bijwasan belt where a lot of migrants from Haryana and Rajasthan live. People will be able to connect with her as she is basically from Haryana,” Bidhuri said, adding that caste won’t play an important factor in South Delhi.b “Instead of caste, I feel, the States from where the residents have migrated play a crucial role,” he maintained.
Congress candidate and sitting MP from the seat, Ramesh Kumar, too, is ready to take his entourage around the region. “On Thursday, he will be carrying out a pad yatra at Ambedkar Nagar,” informed a party worker. Besides, Kumar got a boost in his campaigning when Narender Rana, who contested the Vidhan Sabha election as the BSP candidate from Bijwasan along with his supporters joined the party on Wednesday to support Ramesh Kumar.
While Bidhuri is going in for ‘big names’, Sehrawat plans to keep it a ‘one-man show’. “I will be doing pad yatras, road shows and janata sabhas. My main aim is to work and interact with people at the grass-root level,” said Sehrawat. He has scheduled a road show in Badarpur from 8 am to 2 pm on Thursday followed by a pad yatra at Kusumpur Pahari.