Ahead of the 2008 Delhi Assembly elections, the Congress Government in Delhi had got provisional regularisation certificates issued to a number of unauthorised colonies in the hope of getting their support. The move paid off then but residents of many of these colonies voted against the party in the 2013 polls. And not much appears to have changed in the last four months.
Ramesh Verma of Pandav Nagar was candid enough why his entire neighbourhood will not be swayed by the Congress this time. “We will be voting for the AAP,” he said, while acknowledging that the erstwhile Congress Government made their colonies authorised due to which the market rent has increased. But that is not good enough for him. “It was a political move by then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. Moreover, people are now bearing the brunt of increasing prices of vegetables, fruits and other essential commodities due to the policies of the Congress government at the Centre.”
In places including Vinod Nagar, Pandav Nagar, Laxmi Nagar and Trilokpuri, much of the electorate is again supporting the AAP. “We know these are Lok Sabha elections. But we have still told our family members to vote for the ‘broom’,” said Ravi Prakash, a resident of Laxmi Nagar, where the AAP candidate had trounced Minister A. K. Walia of Congress in the Assembly polls. The AAP’s support has, however, waned among the middle class electorate living in cooperative group housing societies at I.P. Extension. “Arvind Kejriwal should not have resigned,” said Ratan Singh, a resident.
However, others like Sushil, of Vinod Nagar, said the former could not have continued at the helm much longer because the Congress and the BJP were working in tandem to discredit him. “Getting the Jan Lokpal Bill passed was his top priority. When it could not be introduced in the Assembly, he had no option left with him.”
In Vinod Nagar, a majority of residents are enamoured with the AAP candidate, Rajmohan Gandhi, who they insist would be a better choice because of his incorruptible track record. So where does that leave the BJP? Though a majority of people in this area are from Uttarakhand’s hill districts, the party candidate Maheish Girri may not get as much support from them as he would desire.
