POLITICS

Congress’ predicament in Delhi is boon for AAP and hope for BJP

By Vinod Kumar Shukla- 20 Jan 2025
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congress-predicament-in-delhi-is-boon-for-aap-and-hope-for-bjp

New Delhi (20.01.2025): After the last date of nomination for Delhi Assembly elections got over on January 17, 2025, canvassing is now going on in full swing. But there is an interesting aspect that is AAP and its leaders are more aggressive against the Congress than the BJP. But why so?
AAP and its leaders know that any better performance of the Congress may damage its chances in Delhi and this may also help revive the Congress in the city. On the other hand, the fear of I.N.D.I.A is that if the Congress manages to get around 14-15 per cent votes in the Delhi hustings, the BJP may be able to win enough seats to form the government in Delhi which is forcing them to rally behind AAP as the Congress is not in such a position to form the government in Delhi despite possible improvement in its vote share. But the Congress is certainly contesting elections very well without full hog support from the party. Actually the Congress is in a dilemma where it appears to be contesting seriously and does not want a win for the BJP. If it goes all out, the BJP will have a fair chance to stop the dry spell of 25-26 years. This is forcing the Congress, political analysts say, to go slow at many places which are visible by actions of the party and senior leaders.
In a catch 22 situation, the Congress does not want the BJP to win Delhi elections and it does not want to see the AAP winning either. In the New Delhi seat, Sandeep Dikshit, son of Sheila Dikshit, is working very hard who is having a clean image to make him in the reckoning but the support that he was expecting from the party is not visible on the ground. Parvesh Verma, son of another former Delhi CM, Sahib Singh Verma, is the BJP candidate fron new Delhi seat making things difficult for Kejriwal. Farhad Suri, son of Tajdar Babur, is challenging former Dy CM of Delhi Manish Sisodia at Jangpura with the BJP having Tarwinder Singh Marwah as its candidate making the election on the seat interesting.
Atishi is facing Alka Lamba, one of the most vocal spokespersons of the Congress, in Kalkaji where Ramesh Bidhuri is also in the frey. Another firebrand spokesperson Ragini Nayak is contesting from Wazirpur against lesser-known Poonam Sharma of the BJP and Rajesh Gupta of AAP. Former minister in Sheila Dikshit government Haroon Yusuf is fielded from Ballimaran once again against BJP’s Kamal Bagdi and AAP’s Imran Hussain.
Krishna Tirath, former Congress Lok Sabha MP from erstwhile Karol Bagh constituency, is back to the Congress once again as Patel Nagar candidate against an AAP turncoat Raaj Kumar Anand who had contested 2024 Lok Sabha election from New Delhi seat as BSP candidate. Anand is the BJP candidate while AAP fielded Pravesh Ratan.  
Mukesh Sharma from Uttam Nagar, Rajesh Lilothia from Seemapuri and Bhishm Sharma from Ghonda are some other important names of the Congress that are certainly making the contest triangular. Around half a dozen minority concentrated constituencies are also matters of concern not only for AAP and the Congress but other constituents of I.N.D.I.A like Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Shiv Sena (UBT). This is the reason that they have come out in support of AAP so that the BJP is defeated and its winning spree all across is arrested.
(By Vinod Kumar Shukla)

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