Nationalist Congress Party Delhi unit leader Tariq Anwar will take the final call as far as selection of candidates for his party are concerned for the upcoming Assembly polls.
Stating this after a press conference at NCP’s Bishambhar Das Marg office in Delhi on Friday, Delhi NCP unit chief Kanwar Pratap Singh said: “Tariq ji will go through the bio-data of the candidates. Only if they have an unblemished track record, will he clear their names. Also, we are expecting some Congressmen to desert their party and join our ranks. But I will not take every disgruntled Congressman. Having worked in Congress, I am familiar with 90 per cent of their workers and leaders.”
Though NCP’s ideologue Sharad Pawar has announced that he will not be part of the next dispensation at the Centre, Mr. Singh said it will not have a bearing on the Assembly polls.
“What needs to be noted here is that Mr. Pawar will continue to play a proactive role in politics. For every wrong in the country, the United Progressive Alliance government has developed a habit of blaming him. In his speech on August 15, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh acknowledged that agriculture productivity had increased. He had said that many States which faced shortage of food grains earlier were now producing more than what they required, but procurement and distribution have to be done by State Governments.”
Blaming the Congress Government for not ensuring that adequate supplies reach Delhiites, Mr. Singh said Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit can easily instruct heads of various wholesale markets at Azadpur, Keshopur, Ghazipur and Okhla not to indulge in hoarding of food grains.
“When the crime graph increases, Ms. Dikshit wriggles out by blaming the Centre, which her party is running. When most of Delhi is facing water shortage, she blames the neighbouring States for not releasing adequate water. The common man has a right to know which areas are being looked after by the government. Power has been privatised, transport will be privatised and so also water. The average Delhiite have a right to know where the Government spends its money.”
Meanwhile, Vipin Kumar Goel has been elected as Delhi NCP vice-president.
