Cong shortlist has Nafisa Ali, Niloufer Bhagwat, Sunil Dutt

NEW DELHI, Aug 6: If the Delhi unit of the Congress has its way, the Lok Sabha elections will see a string of celebrities. In the shortli...

NEW DELHI, Aug 6: If the Delhi unit of the Congress has its way, the Lok Sabha elections will see a string of celebrities. In the shortlist of 17 names for the seven constituencies of Delhi figure Niloufer Bhagwat, wife of dismissed Naval chief Vishnu Bhagwat, former Miss India Naifsa Ali, filmstar Sunil Dutt and Hema Aziz, the mother of Lt Hanifuddin who was killed in Kargil.

Niloufer is being considered for New Delhi, Nafisa Ali for South Delhi, Hema Aziz and Sunil Dutt are being considered for East Delhi.

The list was submitted by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and Delhi Pradesh Congress president Subhash Chopra to the AICC screening committee yesterday.

The screening committee will pick up seven candidates which will later be finalised by the party president, Sonia Gandhi.

Sajjan Kumar’s name too has been shortlisted. He was denied a ticket in the last elections because of his alleged involvement in the 1984 Sikh riots. But Congressmen feel now that the BJP has decided to field Sahib Singh Verma, it is important that the Congress counters this with a Jat leader of stature. If Sonia decides to stick to the Panchmarhi declaration, which vows not to give tickets to politicians with a tainted image, then he has a very slim chance of getting a ticket again.

The other shortlisted candidates for Outer Delhi, a constituency which has 28 lakh voters, include veteran politician Deep Chand Sharma, MLA from Hastsal Mukesh Sharma, senior party leader Mahinder Yadav and Dharamvir Yadav.

For East Delhi, the shortlist has Health Minister A K Walia, Power Minister Narender Nath, Sunil Dutt and Hema Aziz.

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For the prestigious New Delhi seat, there’s a new contender. With Karan Singh joining Congress today, the party could consider replacing R K Dhawan who was being pegged as the most possible candidate. It is here that the party considers Niloufer Bhagwat too.

Considering the literate voters of the area, resurrecting the Bhagwat issue could garner the Congress much support,’ a senior party leader said.

For South Delhi, however, the most possible candidate is former Finance Minister Manmohan Singh. Also on the list are Sikh leaders Naveen Pal Bhandhari and Major Dalbir Singh.

It is rather simple choice in the rest of the seats. For Karol Bagh the name being considered is that of Meira Kumar, for Chandni Chowk Jai Prakash Aggarwal and for Sadar, Jagdish Tytler.