Delhi BJP president Madan Lal Khurana could not hide his agitation when a poll survey by the news channel Aaj Tak showed that the Congress could win up to 60 of the 70 assembly seats in the city. The poll predicted that the BJP would get between 10 and 20 seats.
Khurana said that if the survey assessment proved to be correct, he would take sanyas from politics and never contest another election in Delhi. “I am challenging Sheila Dikshit to take a similar vow that if the poll results prove the survey wrong then she would give up politics. And if she does not do so, the conclusion will be clear: that the survey had been manipulated in favour of the Congress party,” Khurana said.
An emotional Khurana said that should the survey prove to be right, he would feel that his 47 years of public service, sacrifice and struggle had no meaning for the people. “But I am confident that this will not happen. I have contested 11 polls and won 10 of them; that’s because of the work I have done for the people,” he said.
Referring to Dikshit as someone who did not even know the geography of Delhi, Khurana threw yet another challenge for her. “This is my challenge to Dikshit. Let her meet me at Connaught Place. I shall name a place in Delhi and ask her to reach there on her own. Dikshit does not know Delhi or its problems. I am certain that she would not be able to find the place,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}Referring to Dikshit as someone who did not even know the geography of Delhi, Khurana threw yet another challenge for her. “This is my challenge to Dikshit. Let her meet me at Connaught Place. I shall name a place in Delhi and ask her to reach there on her own. Dikshit does not know Delhi or its problems. I am certain that she would not be able to find the place,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}The survey, Khurana said, had given a 50 per cent popularity rating to Dikshit while his popularity had increased from 20 per cent to 29 per cent. However, a news magazine brought out by the same group had, about a year-and-a-half back, done a story on the most successful chief ministers in various states. For Delhi, Khurana had been named number one, Sushma Swaraj as number two and Dikshit as number three.
“It is unbelievable that in such a short time the number three person has been rated so high, and the number one slips so low. The survey definitely smacks of manipulation. If this is not so, Dikshit should accept my challenge,” he said.