The Hindu : Bitter battle for Delhi begins

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Dec 29, 2002

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Bitter battle for Delhi begins

By Sujay Mehdudia

NEW DELHI DEC. 28. As the curtain falls on the year 2002, the political battle between the two leading parties in Delhi -- the Congress and the BJP -- is threatening to get bitter and bigger. With Delhi Assembly elections hardly ten months away, the race for taking credit for development works, doling out populist concessions and wooing the electorate in every possible way has started in right earnest.

In fact, the political field looked one-sided and was dominated by the Congress when the year began. The beleaguered BJP was routed in the municipal elections in March this year by the Congress. Shaken by the humiliating defeat and the possibility of another such loss in the Assembly polls, the party leadership made up its mind to act. It decided to fall back upon the old warhorse, Madan Lal Khurana. Suddenly the arrival of the veteran BJP leader did the trick and the BJP cadres are once again upbeat.

The BJP, which under the leadership of the previous chief, Mange Ram Garg, had become dormant and virtually non- existent, suddenly witnessed a transitional change with Mr. Khurana taking over the reins of the party. The Congress has been challenged in its bastion by the former Chief Minister who has promised to get the BJP voted back to power in the next Assembly elections.

Armed with loads of promises which heightened the expectations of the people, Mr. Khurana took on the Congress challenge in July this year after being requested by the Central party leadership to lead the party at the hustings. The sense of desperation in the BJP ranks could be gauged from the fact that even a year and a half before the polls, almost all top leader of the party projected Mr. Khurana as the next Chief Minister if the BJP was voted to power. But Mr. Khurana's initial euphoria gave way to despondency and frustration. Annoyed with the attitude of the party leadership and the heads of the BJP-led Government, Mr. Khurana went into a shell and refused to head the unit till the promises made to him were fulfilled within a time- frame. This episode certainly did not help the BJP's cause and its image stood dented.

Sensing that Mr. Khurana was their only hope, the party decided to go full steam ahead with him and started doling out various concessions sought by him. Mr. Khurana was also appointed Chairman of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation. Suddenly the Khurana roller coaster was on the roll with the party upbeat on challenging the ruling Congress which stood divided and factionalised.

For the Congress, the year began on a booming note as it continued to keep the BJP on the defensive. The landslide victory in the civic elections further boosted the confidence of the party leaders and the rank and file. But then suddenly things started going wrong and did not work according to plan. The murder of a Congress Councillor allegedly with the involvement of a woman colleague of his did a lot of harm to the party's image and the party's graph started falling. This was followed by a series of other episodes involving Congress Councillors and the list of tainted Councillors increased with each passing day. But what was worse was that despite a big victory in the MCD polls, the party failed to unite and live up to the challenge posed by Mr.Khurana and his brigade.

Now as the year comes to an end, the Congress is certainly in a bad shape. The Government and the party are pulling in different directions and the factionalism threatens to derail the advantage which the party had enjoyed throughout the year. The situation certainly does not look good for the Congress as both the heads of the party and the Government do not see eye to eye with each other. The party at present looks directionless and it seems it will not be able to stand up to the challenge thrown by the BJP. The New Year is certainly going to witness a tough battle between the two parties which would decide who would rule Delhi when the year comes to an end.

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