Lok Sabha elections 2024: Delhi’s North East Lok Sabha constituency is gearing up for a high-profile contest as the Congress announced young leader Kanhaiya Kumar as its candidate against BJP’s sitting MP Manoj Tiwari. The singer-turned-politician is the only BJP candidate not to be dropped from the national capital– the saffron party has fielded fresh faces in all other six constituencies in Delhi.
While reacting to the announcement of Kanhaiya Kumar’s candidature, Manoj Tiwari called him”irresponsible” and the leader of the “tukde-tukde gang.” Tiwari said Kanhaiya Kumar has come to this election on a 40-day tour, and will see the development works conducted in the last five years.
“Those who have come on a 40-day tour, in this election, will definitely see the work worth ₹14,600 crores that has been done in our area. People leading the ‘tukde tukde’ gang, how responsible can they be towards Delhi and the people of Delhi, who cannot respect the country and the Army? They will see how the metro, a central school, a railway station, a passport office, a bridge like Signature Bridge is brought to the area for the first time…” the BJP MP said.
Kanhaiya Kumar, a former President of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU), sprang into the limelight in a 2016 incident in which anti-national slogans were allegedly raised in the JNU campus. After getting his Ph.D. from the JNU, Kanhaiya Kumar joined the Communist Party of India (CPI) Marxist and fought the 2019 Lok Sabha election from Begusarai constituency of Bihar, where he lost against BJP’s Giriraj Singh.
He later joined Congress and was closely associated with Rahul Gandhi during the Bharat Jodo Yatra. Kanhaiya Kumar’s candidature from Delhi’s North East constituency came four years after the area was hit by riots in February 2020, in which more than 50 people lost their lives and hundreds were injured. After the riots, BJP’s sitting MP Manoj Tiwari was criticised for his absence in the constituency.
Direct battle between BJP and INDIA bloc in Delhi
The BJP, which won all the seven seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, is facing a strong INDIA bloc in the national capital. The AAP and Congress have entered into an alliance in Delhi, with the Arvind Kejriwal-led party contesting four seats while the Congress is contesting on the other three, posing a stiff challenge to the BJP.
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Published: 15 Apr 2024, 03:16 PM IST