The Hindu : Veterans, young leaders vie for Congress tickets

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 03, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Veterans, young leaders vie for Congress tickets

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, MARCH 2. Setting in motion the process for selection of candidates for the seven Lok Sabha seats from Delhi, the All-India Congress Committee's Screening Committee today held its first sitting to shortlist the names of the prospective candidates. The Committee, headed by senior party leader Shivraj Patil, scrutinised the claims of several candidates who had sent in their applications for contesting the May 10 polls that are expected to generate a lot of heat within the party.

In fact, this is the first time that the party in Delhi is witnessing a tussle between the youth leaders and the old guard over distribution of the party tickets for the parliamentary polls. It is learnt that the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee, which at one point of time had authorised the party president, Sonia Gandhi, to finalise the candidates, has sent in the names of 46 prospective candidates which also include those of the sitting MLAs of the party. What has surprised the party is the spurt in claims by young party MLAs to contest the Lok Sabha polls pleading that enough time had been given to the veterans and the time had come to show a new face in Delhi. It is understood that the Screening Committee could not deliberate upon the list of candidates, as the AICC leader in charge of Delhi, Ahmed Patel, could not attend the meeting. It was decided that the meeting would be held some time next week and then the shortlisting of candidates could take place. The Delhi Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, and the DPCC president, Chaudhary Prem Singh, also attended the meeting.

However, it is understood that despite all the noise about early clearance of party tickets, it is unlikely that anything will move in the next few days. "As such, polls in Delhi are going to be held in the last phase. There is no rush to clear the names and therefore AICC has lot of time on hand to shortlist and finalise the names," a senior party leader remarked.

The party has been flooded with claims and counter claims from various factions and there is a strong lobby that is demanding representation to the younger lot. In fact, the younger generation including the sitting MLAs have been encouraged by the presence of Mr. Wasnik in the Screening Committee as he is expected to push the case of the young brains.

On the other hand, the veterans are not really upset over the claims by the younger lot and believe that it is everybody's right to stake claim for contesting when elections take place. It is understood that even the worn out names like former MP, Chaudhary Bharat Singh, Chaudhary Tarif Singh and Chaudhary Mukhtiar Singh have staked their claim for the ticket from Outer Delhi constituency. The former Member of Parliament, Sajjan Kumar, is considered a strong contender from this seat along with the three-time sitting MLA, Mukesh Sharma, whose name has been doing rounds during the last few weeks.

On the other hand, the former Union Minister, Jagdish Tytler, looks to be a strong contender for the Sadar Parliamentary seat with little or no opposition from within the party. He has the strong backing of Mr. Prem Singh and could face a soft approach from the Chief Minister's camp also. However, everything will depend on how the Congress high command goes about giving tickets to the party veterans during the crucial Lok Sabha polls.

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