Boosted by victory in Punjab,SAD looks to better tally in civic polls

The SAD leaders in Delhi have started preparing a list of wards dominated by the Sikh community. These include Vishnu Garden,Janakpuri West and Janakpuri North,Nangla Raya,Anarkali,Hari Nagar and Tilak Nagar.

After getting a nod from the party headquarters,the Akali leaders in Delhi are expected to put forth the demand for more seats to their coalition partner BJP.

“We are aspiring to get 20-25 seats in Delhi. We had earlier met Delhi BJP chief Vijender Gupta to discuss seats combinations,but he told us to wait for Assembly results. Now,the results are out and are in our favour. We hope we would be able to convince the BJP to give us a bigger share of seats this time,” said Manjinder Singh Sirsa,Akali councillor from Punjabi Bagh.

SAD leaders also said that this time round,they might contest on their own symbol. “Till now,we had contested on the BJP symbol in Delhi. This has been our understanding. But this time,whether we should fight on our symbol,even after being in a coalition,is a matter to be decided,” said a Akali Dal (Badal) leader.

“It is always beneficial for us if we are sitting councillors to do development work in an area. We would be in a better position to cater to the demands of our community,” said one of the Akali councillors.

Meanwhile,when asked about seat sharing for the MCD polls,Vijender Gupta said,“We will discuss the seat-sharing basis soon.”