Poll war in national capital, Delhi

Poll war in national capital, Delhi

Reporters Name | CAMIL PARKHE | Tuesday, 27 January 2015 AT 09:10 PM IST

    

Delhi Assembly polls, AAP, Arvind Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi

The war for wresting power in Delhi state has finally began. In the earlier Delhi polls held last year, it was a triangular fight between the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party and the BJP. Now it seems the AAP and the BJP are the main contestants and Congress has been relegated to the third position. What is most interesting is that two former comrades in the civic activists movement are now pitted each other. The BJP which had been attempting to put off the Delhi polls as long as possible has received a shot in the arm with Kiran Bedi joining its camp. The party will now have to contain the dissent among its senior leaders who fear they will have to play a second fiddle to the newcomer in the party.

I have had close association with Bedi when she was Deputy Superintendent of Police in Goa, looking after the traffic arrangement for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) retreat in Goa in 1983. Nearly 40 heads of Commonwealth states including Indira Gandhi, Margaret Thatcher and Bob Hawke and others were to attend the retreat. As a reporter with the local daily 'The Navhind Times', I used to accompany her in a police Gypsy vehicle from Panaji to Fort Aquada for her rehearsals with she constantly instructing her subordinates on the walkie-talkie. That was the beginning of her career but that time too she was known as an upright and no-nonsense officer.

There has been indeed a strong reaction to Bedi's decision to join the BJP. Bedi was a forefront leader in the Anna Hazare Team and with her entry, BJP has dealt a heavy blow to the AAP. Bedi's past record as a dynamic IPS officer and her role in the Team Anna will be put to test in this political battle.

BJP's decision to declare her as the chief ministerial candidate has also exposed the party's lack of confidence in winning the prestigious polls with its own leaders.

The BJP and the Sangh Parivar will have to use all its strength and resources to do well in Delhi polls. Teams of civic activists from all parts of the nation have also been working for the AAP in Delhi much before the poll schedule was announced. It is a prestigious battle for both the camps.

It will be yet another test to check whether the Modi wave still exists. The previous year Delhi state polls were fought when there was an anti- incumbency wave against the 15-year-old Congress regime led by Sheila Dixit. Now it will be a fight between the charisma of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal with Bedi and BJP president Amit Shah leading BJP from the front. It will be one of the most interesting and bitterly fought contest in the national capital.