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Journalism of Courage
The entry of veteran Congress leader and former chief minister Sheila Dikshit has made the poll battle an interesting one as chiefs of the Delhi units of two parties will be pitted against each other, Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari said Friday.
Tiwari is the current MP from the North East Delhi constituency, and Dikshit, who heads the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee, has been fielded to take on him. Also in the poll fray is AAP’s Dilip Pandey.
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“I respect Sheila ji and welcome her. She has made the North East Delhi poll contest one of the most interesting in the country,” Tiwari said.
He added that the Lok Sabha fight in Delhi will be between the BJP and the Congress, while AAP was trailing at third place in all seats.
The BJP currently holds all the seven Lok Sabha seats in the Delhi, while AAP has an overwhelming majority in the Assembly.
“This election has now become about Prime Minister Modi. The country wants to see him as PM, so we will win all the seven seats,” Tiwari said.
AAP’s Pandey, a former software engineer, had shifted base from Hong Kong to Delhi years ago to join the party. He hails from Ghazipur in eastern Uttar Pradesh. “This constituency has been betrayed by heavyweights in the past. They never gave time to the area and its problems. I have been spending time here for years now and have covered almost each part of the constituency, meeting voters door to door,” he said.
The BJP has, meanwhile, planned a roadshow for Tiwari where party chief Amit Shah is expected to participate, a Delhi BJP leader said.
In 2014, Tiwari had polled nearly six lakh votes, defeating his nearest rival, professor Anand Kumar of AAP, by a margin of around 1.5 lakh votes.
Daler Mehndi joins BJP
Punjabi singer Daler Mehndi Friday joined the BJP at its Delhi office in the presence of Tiwari and Union Minister Vijay Goel. BJP’s candidate from North West Delhi Hans Raj Hans, whose son is married to Mehndi’s daughter, was also present.
