Date:19/11/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/11/19/stories/2008111961401700.htm

National

My work will speak for me: Sheila Dikshit

Smriti Kak Ramachandran

24 contestants in the fray in New Delhi against ‘suave’ politician

Sheila Dikshit

NEW DELHI: Her stint as Chief Minister of Delhi for 10 long years and a formidable reputation as a “suave politician” have not proved a deterrent for any of the 24 contestants who have decided to challenge Sheila Dikshit of the Congress on her home turf, the New Delhi segment, in the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections.

The contest for the “VIP seat” is pegged as much on local issues of power and water scarcity as it is on issues of national security and global meltdown. And if the claims made by the two dozen contestants are anything to go by, the Chief Minister facing “anti-incumbency” has a tough fight on her hands.

Dismissive of the anti-incumbency factor, the Chief Minister for her part has gone on record saying that her government will come back on “pro-incumbency” factors. Pointing out that her work will speak for her, the Chief Minister says development and economic security is the party’s main electioneering point.

The assertions of her opponents notwithstanding, the Chief Minister is confident of marching over her rivals. In response to their allegations of inadequacy of public amenities, she says infrastructure in the city will only get better and, as she put it while releasing the party’s election manifesto, “a lot has been done and a lot will be done”.

Her key opponent, the BJP’s Vijay Jolly, however disagrees: “There is no Congress wave here and the people are certainly not in favour of Sheila Dikshit. Wherever I go, I have people pouring out their grievances to me. The poor, the marginalised (read the lower castes) feel betrayed by her.”

Rubbishing the general perception that he will lose out to the two-time Chief Minister, Mr. Jolly, hitherto the MLA from Saket, says: “I will win and win with a record margin.” Training his guns on the Chief Minister, Mr. Jolly says: “This is a VIP area, but if you look around there are so many surprising sights here. There are poorly maintained dhobi ghats, there are decrepit government quarters and people living in filth. Is this how a Chief Minister’s constituency should look like?”

Taking on the Congress for “misleading the masses with the Sixth Pay Commission bonanza”, Mr. Jolly says: “On the one hand the Congress has dangled the carrot in the form of the Pay Commission and on the other there is the stick -- no end to inflation and rise in cost of essential commodities.”

Another contestant who is expecting to eat into the Congress vote bank is Bahujan Samaj Party’s Rajiv Singh. A lawyer by training, he says Ms. Dikshit’s major poll plank, “development”, will not influence voters in the constituency.

The escalating crime rate in the city and its impact on local residents is another issue that has surfaced