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POLITICS

coalition government. in the tribal state. government could not last its full tenure
In Haryana the BJP won 40 seats in JJP is not the only one troubling the and Delhi came under President’s rule.
the 90 member House. The JJP had 10 BJP in Delhi. Punjab-based SAD too has In 2015, the Congress could not open its
seats. With help of some Independents been nagging the saffron party to give a account in Delhi but since then claims to
they claimed support of 57 MLAs in the few seats to it in the Delhi polls. have recovered a lot of lost ground.
assembly and staked claim to form the Other NDA allies like Ram Vilas Pas-
government. The Congress had won 31 wan-led Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and he biggest problem for the Con-
seats with INLD and HLP getting one Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) are gress high command has been to
seat each. also fighting it alone in Delhi. The LJP has T curb infighting in the Delhi unit
A section of the BJP fears that JJP may already announced 15 candidates. and project a face for the chief minis-
become more aggressive in Haryana if The SAD, which had contested 4 seats terial post. Last year, Congress interim
it is accommodated in Delhi. The BJP’s in the 2015 Delhi assembly polls jointly chief had made veteran Subhash Chopra
woes in Delhi stem from internal as- with the BJP, may be eyeing 8 seats this the new state unit chief and asked him
sessments that defeating the AAP, which time, the sources said. The SAD tradition- to keep the flock together. Chopra seems
swept the 2015 assembly polls with 67 ally contests on Hari Nagar, Rajouri Gar- to be doing a good job but Sonia Gandhi
seats, may be easier said than done and den, Kalkaji and Sadar Bazaar assembly has asked all senior leaders to fight the
parting with key seats for allies in a dif- assembly polls in order to send a strong
ficult election may not be good strategy. message among the voters.
Besides the performance in Haryana The Congress was about to make BJP
and Maharashtra, the BJP’s decision not import Kirti Azad as the new state unit
have a pre-poll alliance with ally Sudesh “ Dushyant has chief but backed out to avoid a revolt in
Mahto-led All Jharkhand Students Union reportedly told the BJP to the Delhi unit. Later, Azad was made the
(AJSU) in Jharkhand cost the party dear campaign chief for the assembly polls
in the state assembly polls. The BJP won decide on the seat sharing and is now playing a key role in all poll
only 25 seats, way short of the majority for Delhi soon or else his strategy.
mark in the 80-member House. The Con- Though the Congress refused to have
gress which had a pre-poll pact with the party would declare its own an alliance with the AAP for the 2019
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha came to power Lok Sabha polls, the party may again join
candidates. The JJP leaders hands with the ruling party post-poll,
say they have nothing to sources said.
The ruling AAP, which had been blam-
lose by going solo but will ing the BJP ruled central government for
certainly eat into the not allowing it to work in Delhi for most
part of its tenure, has already declared
BJP’s vote-share “ its candidates on all the 70 seats indicat-
ing it was the most confident among the
contesting parties.
While the AAP is going to the polls on
its performance over the past five years
seats. But wants to contest on Rajinder mainly reducing power and water supply
Nagar, Moti Nagar, Tilak Nagar and Roh- bills, improving the lot of government
tas Nagar seats as well as these areas schools, and upgrading infrastructure in
have between 15 to 35 per cent Sikh votes. slums and congested areas, the Congress
SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal dis- is picking holes in the AAP claims and
cussed the issue recently with Union reminding the voters of the work done
Home Minister Amit Shah but a final de- during the tenure of three term chief
cision is pending in the matter. Both SAD minister Sheila Dikshit who passed away
and BJP fought the Haryana polls sepa- last year.
rately as the saffron party refused to have Regularisation of illegal colonies
a pact with the SAD. where around 40 lakh people live in
After ruling Delhi for 15 years, the Delhi has also been a bone of contention
Congress was ousted from power in between the AAP and the BJP with each
Delhi in 2013 by a debutant AAP which claiming credit for the move.
had won 28 seats. The Congress with 8
lawmakers supported the AAP but the LETTERS@TEHELKA.COM

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