BJP did nothing to stop sealing: Navjot Singh Sidhu

At Nabi Karim in Chandni Chowk constituency, the former cricketer had talked about poverty in the area and of the Central government’s and the BJP’s apathy towards the poor.

“We do not care about political parties. All we need is an MP who can find a solution to this mass sealing. We don’t want to live in fear anymore,” Harvinder Chadha, a trader in New Delhi parliamentary constituency’s Karol Bagh, said, amid the crowd cheering for Navjot Singh Sidhu, Congress leader and former cricketer, and Ajay Maken, the party’s candidate from the area.

BJP did nothing to stop sealing: Navjot Singh Sidhu(HT File)

At Nabi Karim in Chandni Chowk constituency, the former cricketer had talked about poverty in the area and of the Central government’s and the BJP’s apathy towards the poor. On Sunday, in Karol Bagh — a commerical hub in the central Delhi — while campaigning for Maken, Sidhu talked about sealing and its impact on traders in the city. He urged voters to support the Congress and encouraged the crowd to keep the mood upbeat with his signature, “thoko taali (clap loudly)”. “Your shops were being sealed, your work suffered, your livelihood was at risk. What did your MP do? Did the BJP provide any solution while you were struggling to save your businesses?” Sidhu asked.

The march, which started from Arya Samaj Road and concluded at Hathi Wala chowk, saw several followers reaching out to Sidhu and Maken, some even throwing sheets of paper at the vehicle hoping their requests reached the Congress candidate.

“Last year has been troublesome for people like us. First the demonetisation, then the GST and now the sealing. I am a small trader and I don’t understand the politics of all this. But people are suffering,” Kunal Choudhury, a businessman, said.

Maken said that the Congress had not come to them for votes without a wholesome plan to stop the sealing.

“I was the union minister of urban development and during my tenure, I made 170 amendments to the Delhi Master Plan to protect commercial establishments and small and medium traders,” Maken said.

He assured traders that within a month of coming to power, the Congress government would enact legislations or further make amendments to the Master Plan to halt the sealing.