Assembly elections: These are Delhi’s backroom boys

As campaigning intensifies, a look at those who form the backbone of strategies and tactics employed by the three parties.

Behind the veneer of rallies and speeches, leaders rely on an inner circle of strategists and experts who push the campaign forward from the beginning to the end. (Source: Express photo by Ravi Kanojia)

As Delhi heads into the last lap of campaigning for the Assembly elections on February 7, candidates for its top political job almost seem ubiquitous. They stare, smiling from billboards at traffic lights, their voices luring votes over the radio. All the while they zip across the national capital, addressing rally after rally in between continuous strategy meetings. For BJP’s Kiran Bedi, AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal and Congress’s Ajay Maken, there is much to do and indeed too little time to do it all in. And so, behind the veneer of advertisements and speeches, each relies on an inner circle of strategists and experts of old friends and relatives and of confidants and political handlers who shun attention and take the burden. They are virtual representatives.

They carry tremendous clout, enjoy instant access and shadow their leaders at every step. They can interrupt meetings at will, cancel and make new appointments without consulting their bosses. “It is a tightrope walk. You cannot afford to insult another leader of the same party or show favouritism. You either have to smile at everybody or frown at them all, and in the end, people will tend to like or hate you only in the extreme,” one such strategist said.

Some also serve as the Devil’s Advocate to their leaders — not an easy job in the face of a politician, said a confidant strictly on grounds of anonymity. “Of every 100, there are 99 party people who will only tell the leader positive things. My job is to be that last one who will go the opposite way. Sometimes it is just the plain hard truth and at other times its to keep my boss grounded, like for example after a poll giving us the lead,” another said.

BJP

Archana Sharma
She is Kiran Bedi’s personal assistant and shadows her at every step. She is in-charge of scheduling for the CM candidate and has been working with Bedi for quite a few years and is a known face in the Bedi circle.

Monica Dhawan
She is an organising secretary in one of Bedi’s NGOs. Dhawan has known Bedi for almost a decade but started working for her recently. She coordinates all work between Bedi’s office and the party office.

Chandni Bedi
She is the CM candidate’s niece and plans and organises all programmes for the leader in her constituency, Krishna Nagar. Sources said Chandni plans events for the leader too.

Neetu Bhatia
The goddaughter of the former IPS officer, Bhatia supervises all functions for Bedi. Bhatia has worked as an investment banker in New York and they lived in the same neighbourhood during Bedi’s stint with the United Nations. Bhatia also supervises and scrutinises media reports for Bedi.

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Sanjay Kaul & Praveen Shankar Kapoor
They are associated with the media cell of Delhi BJP are looking after media correspondence with regard to Bedi. Requests for interviews are handled by these two men who are the contact persons for Bedi.

CONGRESS

Abhijeet Rai
Formerly the officer on special duty to Ajay Maken, Rai continues to be a key aide in his 2015 electoral campaign. He scans media coverage and acts as a go-between for media personnel looking to interview Maken. He was associated with the three documents Maken released to criticise the BJP and the AAP.

Aman Panwar
At 26 years, Panwar is one of the youngest in Maken’s inner circle. Until 2013, the former Youth Congress member practiced civil law at the Delhi High Court. He began looking after operations of social media team when Maken contested the Lok Sabha elections in 2014. Panwar also works at the ground level to fine tune aspects of the campaign strategy.

Rajesh Jain
The former Sadar Bazaar MLA is widely remembered for leading a hunger-strike against MCD’s sealing drive in 2006. He is a close aide of Maken, and provides valuable insights for planning the campaign. He has a very strong support base among Jain community and traders.

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Abdul Wahid Qureshi
Qureshi joined the Congress 18 years ago. Though he describes himself as a simple ‘karyakarta’, senior leaders said Qureshi serves as a vital link between Maken and Sadar Bazaar’s Muslim electorate. His job is to communicate the work the Congress has done for the seat.

AAP

Ashish Khetan
After working as an investigative journalist for over a decade, Khetan now plays multiple roles within the AAP as both its spokesperson and policy strategist. The AAP also banks on Khetan to use his fact-finding and research experience for their “exposes”.

Atishi Marlena
An alumnus of St Stephen’s College and a Rhodes Scholar, Marlena has been an essential cog in AAP’s policy design framework. She was at the forefront of the team that designed the manifesto prior to the December 2013 elections and is one of the brains behind the Delhi Dialogues.

Raghav Chaddha
Chaddha is another important member of the party’s policy think tank as well as a spokesperson. He is a practicing chartered accountant and looks closely at issues of electricity and water, which are intrinsic to the AAP’s campaign.

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Ashish Talwar
Talwar plays a huge role in candidate selection. He has extensive knowledge of politics, its caste and community dynamics, having worked with the Congress earlier.

Pankaj Gupta
Gupta is part of various committees, including the National Executive. A software engineer, Gupta coordinates its army of volunteers.

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