NEW DELHI: A major crisis is brewing up within the Congress over the allotment of seat for the Northwest Delhi Lok Sabha constituency.
While reports suggest that the party has decided to field state unit head and three-time chief minister Sheila Dikshit’s trusted lieutenant Rajesh Lilothia, some within the party feel that the party may finally choose former city minister Raj Kumar Chauhan for the seat. At one point of time, Mr Chauhan too used to be a close lieutenant of Ms Dikshit.
But the crisis before the party is over the candidature of four-time legislator Jai Kishan from Sultanpur Majra seat. His wife too has once held this crucial seat. People in the area feel that he is perhaps the right candidate who should be considered for the North West seat.
A senior dalit leader said that Mr Lilothia is considered as an outsider to the constituency. He has won one election and one by-poll from Patel Nagar. He resides in Paharganj. “He (Mr Lilothia) is not even familiar with the roads of the constituency…. How people can connect with him during the last leg of the elections?”
On the other hand, supporters of Mr Chauhan on Sunday staged a protest outside Rahul Gandhi’s residence in Delhi over reports that he was being denied a ticket. Several Congress workers carrying placards in support of Mr Chauhan raised slogans against the party leaders. The supporters of Mr Chauhan were miffed after news spread that he was being denied a ticket. The placards read “Raj Kumar Chauhan is our candidate and no outsider will be accepted”.
As per party leaders, Congress is all set to field former Union minister Ajay Maken from New Delhi, Ms Dikshit from Chandani Chowk, Olympian wrestler Sushil Kumar from West Delhi, former city minister Arvinder Singh Lovely from East Delhi and former MPs Ramesh Kumar and J.P. Agarwal from South and Northeast Delhi constituencies, respectively.
