After pulling out veterans Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler from the Lok Sabha race, the Congress party is faced with a dilemma: who will fit in their shoes.
After pulling out veterans Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler from the Lok Sabha race, the Congress party is faced with a dilemma: who will fit in their shoes in South Delhi and Northeast Delhi seats respectively.
Even four days after the duo lost their candidature over mounting pressure from Sikhs in connection with the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case and election tickets given to Sajjan and Tytler, hectic lobbying is going on within the party to nominate candidates for the two prestigious seats which have been the Congress strong-hold.
"Though names of speaker Yoganand Shastri and DPCC chief JP Agarwal are doing rounds for South Delhi and East Delhi seats respectively, the party has to ensure that they pass the acid test at the husting," a senior Congress leader said.
The Congress, which is expected to do well in Parliamentary constituencies like East Delhi, New Delhi and Northwest Delhi is faced with the prospects of rebels in the form of Sajjan and Tytler who will be playing spoilsport, though covertly, party insiders said.
As their political career takes a downswing, the two who in their mid 60s are likely to give a tough time to the official candidates whose names are yet to be announced by the party, the said.
According to the sources, Kumar never wanted any leader including Shastri to emerge in Outer Delhi or in `Jat' politics who would challenge his position.
Shastri, a loyalist of chief minister Sheila Dikshit will have to face the ire of Kumar who has record of securing record 8.55 lakh votes from Outer Delhi Constituency, a major portion of which has gone to newly created South Delhi following delimitation, the sources said.
He had trounced BJP stalwart and former Delhi chief minister Sahib Singh Verma from the Asia's largest Parliamentary constituency, which comprised 21 Assembly seats in the last general elections.
The newly created South Delhi has dominance of Gujjars and Jats besides scheduled caste, and comprises 10 Assembly segments of which five are held by Congress, four by BJP and one by BSP.
The assembly constituencies that fall under the seat are Bijwasan, Palam, Mehrauli, Chhatarpur, Deoli, Ambedkar Nagar, Sangam Vihar, Kalkaji, Badarpur, Tughlakabad.
In East Delhi too, the party cannot ignore "Tytler factor" and has to take the ousted three-time MP into confidence before selecting any candidate.
The seat has a sizeable Brahmin population, considered pro-BJP and close to 20 per cent Muslims, SCs and OBCs population each which are traditionally considered Congress votebanks.
The constituency comprises nine Assembly segments --Burari, Ghonda, Gokulpur, Seemapuri, Rohtas Nagar, Seelampur, Timarpur, Karawal Nagar and Babarpur.
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