BY MANISH ANAND
NEW DELHI
Aug. 26: While the Congress is zeroing in on fresh faces to replace a large number of its sitting MLAs, the BJP is all set to repeat all its MLAs except one in the forthcoming Delhi Assembly elections. The party is also tipped to leave aside four Assembly constituencies for its alliance partner Akali Dal (Badal), though the JD(U) demand for 20 seats has no takers in the party.
A senior party functionary said that the BJP has taken a view that tickets will not be denied to the sitting legislators. “Senior leaders have taken the view that the anti-incumbency factor works mostly against the sitting MLAs of the ruling party. As the party has been sitting on the Opposition benches for a decade, the sitting party legislators stand to gain with the strong undercurrent against the ruling party,” he added.
The BJP has 17 MLAs in the 70-member-strong Delhi Assembly, while the Congress has 47 members in the House. BJP MLA Dayanand Chandela from Khayala constituency is the lone sitting member who is tipped to be dropped due to the disciplinary action taken against him for anti-party activities. However, the party is wary that he might contest as an Independent.
The party leaders said that few of the local veteran leaders defeated in the last Assembly polls will also be given tickets. However, there will be no place for the BJP councillors in the Assembly elections. “There is no going back on the stand that those who contested the MCD elections will miss out on the Assembly polls,” said a senior party functionary.
The party is also of the view that no more than four seats can be given to the Akali Dal though the constituencies that they contested last time might be changed. “The BJP will also field four to five Sikh candidates in the Assembly polls, so the alliance together will put up around eight to nine candidates from the community to justify the demand of 10 per cent seats on the basis of the population,” added the party functionary. However, the demand of 20 seats by the JD(U) has been termed as highly ambitious. “The JD(U) does not have political base in the national capital, while the BJP has strong base among the people from Bihar and eastern UP residing here,” said a senior BJP leader.
