The Hindu : Initiative with the incumbent

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Nov 16, 2003

Opinion

Opinion - News Analysis

Initiative with the incumbent

The BJP is Delhi is handicapped by the absence of any major election issue, says SUJAY MEHDUDIA.

THE BATTLE for Delhi has entered an interesting phase with political parties announcing their candidates. The ruling Congress seems to have an edge over the Bharatiya Janata Party, with its star campaigner and Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, far ahead of Madan Lal Khurana — the BJP's chief ministerial candidate — in popularity ratings. However, the Congress is handicapped by the presence of "unwanted baggage''— sitting MLAs who have got the ticket not on merit but on the basis of their "connections".

While Ms. Dikshit continues to be popular after five years of rule, the same cannot be said about a dozen-odd of her sitting MLAs, some of whom have been retained by the party. It would take all the skills and ammunition in Ms. Dikshit's armoury to see them through.

Devoid of any vote-catching issue, the BJP is banking on the infighting within the Congress. The Congress is divided into various camps. But the prominent ones are those led by Ms. Dikshit and the DPCC president, Chaudhary Prem Singh. The ticket distribution exercise has clearly tilted the scales in favour of Ms. Dikshit and the former Outer Delhi MP, Sajjan Kumar, while Mr. Prem Singh has got a raw deal. The former Union Minister, Jagdish Tytler, and the Congress Working Committee member, R.K. Dhawan, have got a few seats for their supporters. It is abundantly clear that the party leadership has decided to back Ms. Dikshit for a second stint in office.

It is not as if the BJP is not riddled with factionalism. Its various `camps' are led by Mr. Khurana, the Union Labour Minister, Sahib Singh Verma, the senior party leader, O.P. Kohli, and the South Delhi MP, Vijay Kumar Malhotra. Both the parties would have to contend with a fair share of "rebel" candidates. The parties have opted for information technology savvy election campaigns that would include the use of the Internet, SMS messaging on mobile phones, and display of short films. There will also be a fair share of Bollywood drama thrown in.The BJP has failed to electrify the electorate despite having raked up a large number of issues, including a scam involving the privatisation of power. The party has been shifting gears frequently due to the absence of any one issue that can become a major poll plank. And this time round, it has remained silent on the issue of granting statehood to Delhi, a matter it had earlier termed as its major election plank.

There is a feeling in the BJP that the central leadership is not backing Mr. Khurana, who, it appears, has been left to his own devices. Then there is the disenchantment among traders, Government employees and the poor against the policies of the BJP-led Central Government.

In the present Assembly polls, the focus is on issues such as clean air, a pollution free Capital, better transportation system, infrastructure, decongestion and vision for the future, a field where the Congress has struck a sympathetic chord with the electorate.

Clearly, the Congress is on a roll and is projecting a positive, development-oriented agenda in contrast to the "scam ridden and negative agenda" of the BJP.

Apart from the BJP and the Congress, none of the other parties in the fray is expected to make any impact. However, the Bahujan Samaj Party could make the going tough for the Congress in certain areas of East and Outer Delhi parliamentary constituencies. The Third Front, constituted for Delhi, is not expected to make much of an impact except in perhaps half-a-dozen seats.

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