Royal tussle in Cong for Chandni Chowk seat

Much before the selection process for candidates had started, stories on the tussle between 56-year-old Sawhney and 37-year-old Mudit had been doing the rounds. Sawhney has been in politics since 1983 and is said to be close to MP Kapil Sibal. J P Agarwal, on the other hand, is running from pillar to post to get a seat for his son.

Senior leaders however, are tightlipped.

J P Agarwal had been canvassing for his son, although the party high command was not happy with this move. “Chandni Chowk is an important seat and J P Agarwal would not risk it by putting up his son, who is a first-timer. If Mudit loses, it will be detrimental for his father, too. He had also asked party high command to consider Mudit for the Shalimar Bagh seat,” said a senior leader.

Toeing the party line, J P Agarwal had been denying all along that his son would not be running for polls. Mudit, who runs a garment export business, also denied it. “I am not planning to jump into politics at any time. These are merely rumours,” he said.

Chandni Chowk constituency has nearly 1.6 lakh voters and the voter turnout here is less than 40 per cent. Other than traders in the Azad Market and Nawab Ganj areas, it also has the posh Rajpur Road and Civil Lines area. The Tibetan settlement at Majnu Ka Tila also falls in this constituency.

“Mudit’s name had been doing the rounds for a long time. Every father would want his son to do well, so even if J P Agarwal supports him there is no problem. The party high command has assured me that I will be the candidate for this seat,” Sawhney told Newsline.

Sawhney had won his first election in 1983 when he was elected as a member of Delhi corporation, where he served till 1990. He was also chairman of the house. In 1998, he fought the assembly polls from Chandni Chowk and won by 8,500 votes. The next term, too he was successfully elected with a margin of 11,500 votes.