Denied8217; Congress men busy networking

After the chargesheet against Jagdish Tytler was dismissed recently, the chances of him securing a ticket in the coming Lok Sabha polls have become brighter. Bhagat is understood to be lobbying for a ticket for his son, opting to stay out of the fray himself.

That leaves the Jat leader from Outer Delhi, Sajjan Kumar, who is the only answer to former chief minister Sahib Singh Verma, that is, if the BJP decides to field him.

In the wake of the Panchmari declaration, however, there is also the strong possibility that Sajjan Kumar may be denied a ticket because of his 8220;tainted background8221;. Sajjan denies the need for such a shift. 8220;Sonia Gandhi will withdraw her resignation and that will change everything. In case, she does not do that, then there will be some desertions. These desertions will not be because leaders believe in an ideology. These are extremely worried politicians who are nothing but opportunists and will go wherever they get a ticket,8221; he said.

And if senior Congress leaders are denied tickets, he said: 8220;At the most, there will be a little bit of violence, but nothing else.8221; Ruling out a third front in Delhi, he said: 8220;I carefully watched the people who came to receive Sangma when he arrived at Palam airport. There was not a single well-known Congressman among them.8221;

They may not be visible, Congress leaders from East Delhi and even the Walled City, besides Outer Delhi, who had lost the general elections last time around and do not see a chance of getting a ticket are teaming up, quietly.

Says a senior office-bearer from Janata Dal: 8220;We have begun receiving feelers from long-time Congress leaders from the day Pawar and the others made their move. They are testing the waters on what would be the understanding with us if they move out of the Congress.8221;

Then, there is a section of Muslims leaders in the Congress who want to ally with Tariq Anwar. 8220;It is a country for which Muslims laid down their lives in thousands to free it from the shackles of foreigners. And now they want to hand over the party to another foreigner,8221; points out a Muslim leader. 8220;We8217;d rather be with the three rebels who at least have the courage to say what is true,8221; he says.

The last category is that of lower-rung leaders who have either lost the last Assembly elections in Delhi or were denied a ticket. They know they can be a nuisance to the party, if they really get down to cutting into Congress vote-banks.