The party’s decision to field Ramesh fanned speculation about Jat strongman Sajjan arm-twisting the senior Congress leadership into fielding a candidate from his family.
Will the real Congress candidate please stand up? This has been a common refrain in the South Delhi parliamentary constituency, ever since the Congress replaced Sajjan Kumar — for his 1984 anti-Sikh riot taint — with his younger brother, Ramesh Kumar, a former MLA.
The party’s decision to field Ramesh fanned speculation about Jat strongman Sajjan arm-twisting the senior Congress leadership into fielding a candidate from his family.
While Ramesh’s candidature has irked party leaders in the area, Sajjan has been busy wooing voters. Now it’s hard to distinguish who the real candidate is — Ramesh or Sajjan? While campaigning, Sajjan does the talking, and the catchphrase is: “Ramesh Kumar ko bitha ke, Sajjan ko vote dijiye” (by voting for Ramesh Kumar, you will vote for Sajjan). All of Ramesh’s posters and hoardings also have prominent images of Sajjan.
During padyatras, Sajjan introduces Ramesh to the people thus: “Mera bhai hai, apna vote ise hi dena” (he’s my brother; vote for him). A steady stream of instructions tells Ramesh what to do — “unke pair chhoo lena”(touch their feet), “wahaan zyada time rehne ki zaroorat nahi hai” (don’t spend too much time there) and “photo khhichwate waqt muskuraya to kar!” (smile when you get photographed).
During a recent public meeting, party workers were overheard saying, “Election toh Sajjan bhai lad rahein hain, Ramesh ka toh sirf mukhauta hai” (Ramesh is a proxy candidate for Sajjan).
Ramesh is hard put to fight the “outsider” tag (in 1998 he was an MLA from Shahbad-Daulatpur in northwest Delhi). And this is what Sajjan is toiling to counter, by bringing dissident factions within the party together, to campaign for his brother and check internal sabotage.
By fielding Ramesh, considered a political non-entity, the Congress has made itself vulnerable in this rural constituency, where the BSP garnered nearly 24.5% of votes in the November assembly polls, even winning a seat. The BJP, with four MLAs in South Delhi, also has a foothold, and local Congress leaders privately admit that the party’s chances of winning the seat with Ramesh as its candidate are not bright.
“Everyone knows Sajjan is contesting the elections by proxy, but he will be defeated, as he did nothing for the area as an MP,” said BSP’s south Delhi candidate, Kanwar Singh Tanwar.
In case Ramesh wins, Congressmen say “the constituency will see two MPs; Ramesh in Parliament and Sajjan to hold turf in the constituency”.
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