President Pranab Mukherjee’s daughter Sharmishtha Mukherjee is likely to be the Congress candidate from the prestigious Greater Kailash constituency in the upcoming Assembly elections. Sharmishtha has started campaigning in the constituency at a blistering pace. She has already covered Shahpur Jat and Chirag Dilli urban villages in a door-to-door campaign. Congress leaders of the Delhi unit say that Sharmishtha is focusing on the Bengali and urban votes. If she gets a party ticket from the constituency, Sharmishtha will have to challenge the popularity of AAP MlA Saurabh Bhardwaj, who is a resident of Chirag Dilli village.
An accomplished Kathak dancer and choreographer, Sharmishtha formally entered active politics in July. Forty-eight-year-old Sharmishtha has been actively participating in the Congress’ agitations against high power tariff and water shortage in the city.
Sharmishtha has performed Kathak extensively in India and abroad, including the US, Europe, China, Nepal, Bangladesh, Jordan and Indonesia. She has also directed a television programme Taal Mel. She has also co-directed a film on contemporary dance in India named Beyond Tradition.
Sharmishtha, who resides in S-22, Greater Kailash Part II, is hopeful of getting the party’s ticket from GK. However, she told The Pioneer that the Congress leadership will take the call. “If the party gives the ticket to someone else, I will campaign for that candidate,” she said.
Sharmishtha, who has been holding regular interactions with the people of the constituency for the past two months, has gone on record saying if she is given a chance, she would definitely contest the Assembly polls.
She claimed that she has been regularly interacting with the people of Greater Kailash constituency and has been pulling out all stops to resolve their day-to-day problems.
On Sunday, Sharmishtha met the residents of Khirki village and some residents’ welfare association of the area. The total population of these two villages is over 30,000 and the area is considered a stronghold of the AAP. She distributed blankets to the poor in Sheikh Sarai on Sunday. According to Sharmistha, people of Delhi have realised that it was their mistake to vote for the AAP in Delhi in the Assembly polls in December last year.
If President’s daughter enters the election fray, Greater Kailash seat will witness a keen contest. It was AAP’s Saurabh Bharadwaj, who won the seat by bagging 43,097 votes against BJP’s Ajay Kumar Malhotra. Congress candidate Virender Kasna polled only 19,714 votes. The same seat was won by BJP’s veteran leader and stalwart Vijay Kumar Malhotra by a margin of about 12,000 votes against his Congress rival Jitender Kumar Kochar in 2008 elections. Sources in the Congress said that the party’s calculation is simple. The Chitranjan Park area, dominated by Bengalis, will certainly vote for Sharmistha. And if she manages to get votes in these two villages, the party can win the seat.
After joining the party, Sharmishtha has been attending Delhi Congress events in the Capital. In July, she was seen at a candlelight march to protest power outages in Delhi. She was present at a Congress gherao of Parliament. An alumna of St Stephen’s College, Sharmistha is a trained Kathak dancer. Her brother Abhijit is a lok Sabha member from Jangipur in West Bengal. Her decision to enter politics has already given rise to speculation in the Congress, especially among MlAs. “I’m not sure what role she will assume in Delhi but it seems she is interested in contesting elections from the State,” a senior party leader said.