West becomes a Cong headache

At the back of the Congress’s mind is also the disenchantment of the Jat community with the BJP. They were eager for former chief minister Sahib Singh Verma’s son Parvesh to be the BJP candidate from here. But Parvesh Verma was denied a ticket.

Party insiders said former Minority Commission member Harcharan Singh Josh is still in the reckoning as the Congress might field a Sikh candidate against BJP’s Jagdish Mukhi. The Congress has already named Jagdish Tytler — accused in the Sikh riots of 1984 — for the North-East constituency.

Another contender,one recommended by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit,is K T S Tulsi.

Josh recently resigned from the Minority Commission,opting to work for the party. The Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee has already named him as an observer for West Delhi. He had last contested the Assembly polls from Malkaganj in 2003.

The West Delhi seat has been carved out of the former Outer Delhi and South Delhi constituencies and now has six Assembly seats from the rural belt and four from the urban belt. The Assembly seats are Madipur,Najafgarh,Uttam Nagar,Vikaspuri,Janakpuri,Rajouri Garden,Tilak Nagar,Hari Nagar,Matiala and Dwarka.

Sources said the Congress is trying to reach out to the Jat and the Punjabi population in the constituency. Each group comprises nearly 12 per cent of the votebank here.

An insider said: “Even though the party is contemplating a Sikh candidate,it is still trying to secure the Jat vote,” indicating that Independent Jat MLA Bharat Singh from Najafgarh — who might also be in the fray — is a threat to the party.

Singh,at 31,is the youngest MLA in the Assembly and was a municipal councillor from the Indian National Lok Dal. He could not contest the Assembly elections against the BJP candidate due to the NDA-INLD alliance in Rajasthan and Haryana and decided to contest as an Independent. He won the seat by a big margin of 12,500 votes due to Jat support.

“The Jat community usually votes for a Jat candidate and not a party,” said a Congress worker,adding that the neighbouring North-West constituency has a Jat population of 17 per cent. “The party has to make sure that votes do not slip away from other constituencies,” he added.

South Delhi has a Jat population of 8 per cent,New Delhi around 4 per cent and East has nearly 3 per cent. Tytler’s North-East constituency has a Jat voting population of 5 per cent.

Apart from Josh,the names of MLAs Mahabal Mishra,Mukesh Sharma and DPCC secretary Naresh Kumar have also been heard. Mishra is playing the Poorvanchali card since no Poorvanchali candidate features on the list of any party,while Sharma’s forte is the Brahmin-rural base.