145;BSP not a Dalit party146;

After winning Uttar Pradesh with the backing of more upper caste candidates than ever in its history, the Bahujan Samaj Party is repeating the social engineering formula in Delhi. For the Assembly elections, the party has fielded barely 10 or 12 Dalit candidates.

Going ag ainst the party8217;s image built over the years, some BSP candidates might even feature in the list of wealthiest contestants for the Assembly polls. And leading the race from the front is Kanwar Singh Tanwar, the party8217;s general secretary for Delhi and reportedly the richest MLA-aspirant.

Spelling out the party8217;s new mantra, Tanwar told Newsline: 8220;BSP is not a Dalit party any more. It now represents a vast backward population of the country. But the wealthy candidates are all social workers first.8221;

Tanwar declared assets worth Rs 150 crore, while filing his nomination on Monday with the returning officer Mehrauli. His assets include three luxury cars, two apartments, a farmhouse and agricultural and non-agricultural land worth nearly Rs 141 crore.

There are at least six more candidates expected to show assets worth more than

Rs 100 crore.

Some of the names include Brahm Singh Bidhuri, president of the party8217;s state unit, who owns dairies and property worth crores in the Okhla constituency, from where he is contesting the polls.

Others are Ram Singh Netaji, the long-time Congress loyalist, who had won the elections from Badarpur seat against the Congress8217; present candidate Ram Vir Singh Bidhuri in 1998. Bidhuri had then been a part of the Nationalist Congress Party and had joined the Congress in September.

While Netaji could not be contacted despite repeated attempts, sources say his assets are worth crores.

8220;He is a rich man and has the means to invest in social work,8221; Kanwar Singh Tanwar said. Tanwar himself runs a trust called the Narayani Devi Trust which has a mobile clinic in his constituency which treats close to 700 people a day.

Tanwar said, 8220;We do not claim to be poor, but we are a minority among our community, which is predominantly poor.8221; Both Kanwar Singh and Netaji are from the Gurjjar community.

The Bahujan Samaj Party, under instructions from the party higher-ups in Lucknow, did not make public the list of the approved 62 candidates from Delhi till the last moment.

8220;We have been instructed to keep our options open,8221; a senior leader from the party8217;s Delhi unit said.

Sources in the party say there are hardly 6-7 seats that have been given to Dalit candidates and the same number to the candidates from the Valmiki community sweepers.

Besides that, the party has chosen to give tickets to nine Brahmin candidates, nine Gurjjar candidates, and at least seven candidates from the Punjabi community.

8220;The sole aim is to win with the help of ground work,8221; Tanwar said. Lokesh Dikshit, an upper caste candidate who will be contesting from Rohtas Nagar, is one such candidate. He owns a dairy business in Baghpat district of UP and had spread it to Delhi only a few years back.

Speaking to Newsline, Dikshit said, 8220;We want an opportunity to contest the polls, not just as party loyalists, which the BJP and Congress lay too much emphasis on; we have been

instructed to work on

the ground and have been doing so.8221;