On home turf of BJP South Delhi pick Ramvir Bidhuri, a chorus of support — and some discontent
Ramvir Bidhuri’s supporters from his assembly constituency were jubilant about his nomination. “... he’s left no stone unturned in doing work in Badarpur,” said Lala.
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Bidhuri (L) was accompanied by Uttarakhand CM Dhami & Delhi BJP chief Sachdeva to file his nomination. (Express Photo by Amit Mehra)“I think he has a good chance of winning because he’s never lost an election before,” said Badarpur resident Manjit Lala (33), referring to the BJP’s South Delhi candidate and area MLA Ramvir Bidhuri.
On Friday, the Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly filed his nomination for the Lok Sabha polls after a roadshow that was attended by Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami, Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva and senior party leader Dr Alka Gurjar. The 71-year-old is up against the INDIA bloc’s Sahiram Pehalwan and replaces incumbent BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri. In the 2020 Delhi Assembly polls, the AAP won 9 of 10 seats from this constituency.
Ramvir Bidhuri, in his speech, promised to make Delhi a world-class city. Hitting out at the Opposition, he claimed: “People are suffering because of lack of water… for the last nine years, not a single new DTC bus has been bought, not a single new school, college or hospital has been opened… the Yamuna is twice as poisonous as it used to be before, and Delhi has become the most polluted capital under (CM Arvind) Kejriwal.”
Dhami requested supporters at the event to make Bidhuri win by “at least 5 lakh votes”. Acknowledging that voter percentage in the last two phases had been low, he said, “There is no challenge for the BJP today… (but) the greatest challenge that you shall face will be the weather… despite (this)… do not let the voter percentage fall on voting day.”
The rally was attended by groups of folk musicians and dancers in traditional Uttarakhandi garb who danced with swords to the beat of the drums, cymbals, trumpets, tumbis and beens (reedpipes). Party workers showered the rally with flowers as it passed by on the way to the District Magistrate’s office in Saket.
Bidhuri’s supporters from his assembly constituency were jubilant about his nomination. “… he’s left no stone unturned in doing work in Badarpur,” said Lala.
Akshay (32), a resident of Mahipalpur who attended the rally, quipped: “Our area MLA — he’s a jhaduwala — he’s never visited our area even once since he’s been elected.” “My wife’s family lives in Badarpur so I can see the difference. In our area, the drains overflow and we get unclean drinking water. Sometimes, we don’t get water at all. Bidhuri ji has done good work in his area…,” he added.
However, not all Badarpur residents were happy with the nomination. Bijendra Singh (66) alleged, “I live in the JJ colony in Gautampuri Awas and for the last 9 years, the roads have not been constructed. Bidhuri does not do any work for the oppressed.”
A group of housewives, who requested not to be named, gave their stamp of approval to the Aam Aadmi Party. “We used to suffer so much because we had no water supply… Kejriwal got us all of that, our electricity bill comes as zero,” said one of them. When asked why they’d decided to attend the BJP candidate’s rally, they said, “Well, we wanted to see what they had to offer.”
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