Grey heads, young turks set for battle

The assembly elections may be a do-or-die battle for so many young leaders in Delhi politics. Compared to BJP, Cong appears to be at an advantage in this regard, writes Chetan Chauhan.

Published on: Oct 13, 2003, 15:16:00 IST

PTI | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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The forthcoming assembly elections may be a do-or-die battle for so many upcoming young leaders in Delhi politics. A defeat can mean the end of their political career for first-time contestants and a blot on their career for others. A victory, on the other hand could result in a leap, into a higher political strata.

Compared to the BJP, the Congress appears to be at an advantage. It has young leaders with a strong public image and they have a say in the party. They know the elections are crucial for them.

“If I am able to win for the third time in succession it will be a big achievement,” says Transport Minister Ajay Maken, the youngest MLA elected to the Delhi Assembly in 1993.

His political career began in 1983 when he was elected executive councillor to the Delhi UniversityStudents’ Union. He went on to become DUSU president two years later. Maken hasn't looked back.

Several key posts in the Delhi Congress later, Maken got an assembly ticket in 1998 from Rajouri Garden where he won by 4,000 votes. His big momemnt, however, was when he was fielded in February 1998 against BJP heavyweight Sushma Swarajfrom the South Delhi Parliamentary constituency. Maken lost by about one lakh votes but regained lost political ground when he won the 1998 Assembly election by over 20,000 votes.

The December 1 election, however, may be different as Maken may face the anti-incumbency factor as a serving minister of the Delhi government. But if he wins, the next step will be national politics.

Close on his heels is Hastsaal legislator, Mukesh Sharma, also elected to the Assembly in 1993.“I was able to deliver as I was only 28 when people elected me,” says he.“My hard work over five years is certain to bear fruit” he contends.

Sharma projects himself as a Brahmin with a rural background and hence an alternative for MP from Outer Delhi. In the past 5 years the Congress hasn't been able to build up any formidable rival to the BJP's Sahib Singh Verma. The party's best bet to date remains former MP Sajjan Kumar. And there is no doubt the existing void there will prove a great help to Sharma.

The Delhi Congress also shows promise among minority community candidates. Delhi Development Minister Haroon Yusuf is a second time MLA and can be the party's Muslim face in Delhi.

Gandhinagar MLA Arvinder Singh Lovely along with Jangpura MLA Tarwinder Singh Marwah has a future in Sikh politics in Delhi once Finance Minister Mahender Singh Saathi retires. Even among reserved categories, the Congress has fresh faces in Jaikishan (Mangolpuri) and Education Minister Rajkumar Chauhan (Sultanpuri).

The BJP hasn’t been as fortunate. It doesn't have as many young Turks as the Congress. “In a party where one grows gradually, it is difficult to contest an election at a young age,” said a leader representing the party's “younger” lot. The lone exception would probably be Vijay Goel, he said.

But the BJP does have a list of probables drawn up for the December elections. Leading the pack is Delhi BJP vice-president and aspirant from Saket, Vijay Jolly. who started as DUSU general secretary but lost the 1998 Assembly polls by about 7,000 votes.

“I was new to the constituency and there was a strong Congress wave,” says Jolly. Admitting that a second defeat could mean political suicide Jolly asserts that he has “made up for lost ground”.

Another DUSU product in the BJP, Aarti Mehra, the sitting MCD councillor in the area is in the race for a ticket from Haus Khas. “She won the municipal polls by a formidable margin despite a strong Congress wave in that election,” say senior leaders. There is also the vaccum in the Delhi BJP for a dynamic woman candidate in the Delhi assembly.

This could also be the last shot at the polls for the old RSS face of the Delhi BJP, Pawan Sharma, the party general secretary for 8 years. This time he may be fielded from Outer Delhi. The election may be crucial as several BJP leaders want him to contest, but only because they want him to get a taste of how tough contesting an election is. His popularity among party cadres, however, will help him.

The political futures of two young Vaish community leaders, the energetic MCD councillor Vijender Gupta and Ashok Aggarwal also rest on this election. Both have been in BJP for over two decades and are considered the second in line in the community after Union minister Vijay Goel.

The stakes are also high for a young probable BJP candidate from Malviya Nagar, Siddharth Nath Singh, the grandson of former Prime Minister, Lal Bahadhur Shastri. “The party knows me but I would like to contest so that the people also know me” he says.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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