New Delhi, March 16 (IANS) The seven Lok Sabha candidates of the BJP in Delhi have their eyes set on their opponents from the AAP while the Congress is not being considered a serious threat, party sources said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party’s fourth list, which was released Saturday, included seven candidates for Delhi where polling will be held April 10.
The candidates are Delhi chief Harsh Vardhan from Chandni Chowk; spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi from New Delhi; Pravesh Verma, son of former chief minister Saheb Singh Verma, from West Delhi; Dalit leader Udit Raj from North West Delhi (reserved); Bhojpuri movie star Manoj Tiwari from North East Delhi; Ramesh Bidhuri from South Delhi; and Mahesh Giri from East Delhi.
On Sunday, six of the seven candidates interacted with the media at Delhi BJP’s headquarters. Four of them lashed out at the Aam Aadmi Party and its chief Arvind Kejriwal while giving their introduction.
They accused Kejriwal of “betraying” the people of Delhi and criticised the policies announced during the 49-day AAP rule in the capital.
They also called Kejriwal an “anarchist” who failed to benefit the masses and ran away from his responsibilities.
However, the BJP candidates officially refused to acknowledge the AAP as a competitor.
“The media has created hype around the AAP as well as the Congress. They both stand no chance in these elections and it is going to be a BJP show,” Harsh Vardhan told IANS.
The view was echoed by all the other five candidates.
However, party sources tell a different tale.
They say each BJP candidate has been advised to study the working style of their opponents from the AAP, which stunned many after winning 28 of the 70 seats in the Delhi assembly elections in December 2013.
“They have been told to focus on AAP candidates who are the main threat. As far as the Congress is concerned, only a couple of their candidates are being looked at seriously,” said a party official.
It was because of the AAP that the BJP took so long to declare its Delhi candidates, the official said.
The AAP’s candidates are former journalists Ashutosh from Chandni Chowk and Jarnail Singh, who hurled a shoe at then home minister P. Chidambaram, from West Delhi, Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson Rajmohan Gandhi from East Delhi, Colonel (retd) Devendra Sehrawat from South Delhi, Jawaharlal Nehru University professor Anand Kumar from North East Delhi, journalist Ashish Khetan from New Delhi and social activist Mahender Singh from North West Delhi.