Delhi: Kejriwal maybe favorite, but BJP's Nupur Sharma will be tough match

New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal may be the favourite chief minister candidate in Delhi according to opinion polls and surveys and is still the favourite to win from the New Delhi constituency, but his rookie opponent from the Bharatiya Janata Party, Nupur Sharma, former Delhi University Student’s Union president, could give him a run for his money.

Firstpost visited several localities in the New Delhi Constituency on Monday to gauge the electoral mood in the area. Though, the response was mixed, but astonishingly, the BJP candidate is not at a total loss of hope and Kejriwal may not have the same great support in the area that he proved during the last assembly elections in 2013.

The BJP candidate has launched a poster campaign against Kejriwal asking him pertaining questions about his time as the incumbent MLA of the New Delhi constituency. Starting from Sunday, the poster campaign will ask questions like what has the AAP chief done for the people in his constituency since 2013 when he won the seat? Is he ready to apologise to the people of the constituency for wasting their time and betraying their trust?

“He promised to make public toilets for women his constituency, during his campaign in 2013, where are they?” asked Sharma. Realizing that it’ll be a tough seat for the BJP, party president Amit Shah has deployed Union minister Dharmendra to strategise and oversee Sharma’s campaign. According to sources, a 25-member committee is being headed by Pradhan specifically to guide Sharma in her election campaign.

Meanwhile, Delhi BJP’s Youth Wing and members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad have been seen campaigning with Sharma in her rallies and pad yatras. In the last couple of days Sharma seems to have covered considerable ground in the constituency. She has been campaigning rigorously in the JJ colonies like Camp, Arjun Das Camp and Bengali Camp near East Kidwai Nagar. She has also been relentlessly meeting resident welfare associations of government flats and housing societies.

Unlike Kejriwal, Sharma has also met with people living in the servant quarters in the swanky bungalows in the New Delhi Municipal Council area. “The government buildings may look posh and elite from the outside but there are serious issues that people who live in their servant quarters face daily,” Sharma said. Most of their homes are in a bad condition with basic amenities like sewerage and drinking water supply not available in them. I intend to help them,” she added.

Meanwhile, being the CM candidate for the Aam AAdmi Party, Kejriwal has not been able to devote the same amount of time campaigning in his constituency as Sharma has, due to his several commitments and rallies all around Delhi, but the party members are doing their best in his absence.

Door-to-door campaigning started in the constituency since December last year. Of late, a team of volunteers comprising AAP members from Bangalore and Mumbai have also been spotted holding nukkad meetings, pad-yatras and loud-speaker campaigns, especially in and around government quarters. Though senior government officials are still sold on the idea of Kejriwal, the mid-level babus seemed to be annoyed with him. “For running a city or country, one needs focus, precision and sustenance. Kejriwal has none of these qualities. Issues like corruption cannot be eradicated overnight as he claims. Also, at times, there are certain necessary evils required for the functioning of a government. It not as black and white as it used to be in the yesteryears,” a senior government official said.

Answering the questions posed by his BJP competition Sharma, AAP volunteers handed a leaflet which states that Kejriwal, in the last year has spent a total of Rs 3.05 crore on developmental projects in his constituency. He has spent Rs 37.86 lakh on installing filtered water hydrants and hand pumps several JJ colonies, housing societies and public areas. He has also spent 25.64 lakh on installing street lights and Rs 70.86 lakh on security arrangements, according to an AAP volunteer campaigning for him. He also emphasised that Kejriwal has also spent money from his funds on repairing roads and construction of compound walls.

Kiran Walia, the Congress candidate from the seat, has little hope of defeating Kejriwal or debutant Sharma from the New Delhi constituency. Her campaign strategy too has been old school with pad yatras and a few rallies over the last couple of weeks.

“Congress is done and dusted for the time being. Their treachery and corruption will take a while before it is forgotten by the people of Delhi,” he added.