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Having lost twice, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is likely to offer former top cop Kiran Bedi a party ticket to fight from Old Delhi’s Chandni Chowk constituency in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Sources in the BJP said Nitin Gadkari, in-charge of elections in Delhi, has been pushing for Bedi’s name. She is also seen as close to BJP patriarch Lal Krishna Advani. In an emailed reply, however, Bedi denied having been approached by the BJP.
“No, it is not true,” Bedi said.
Earlier, speculation was rife within the BJP that Bedi had been approached with an offer to be the party’s face in the upcoming Assembly elections. That proposal was dropped, fearing opposition from the party cadre who resisted an outsider.
Bedi, who served in Delhi Police in various senior positions, was a key member of the Anna Hazare-led Jan Lok Pal agitation in August 2011. She, however, has stayed away from Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party, which is fighting elections against the BJP and Congress in the Capital.
Party sources said Bedi, besides having a clean image, had advantages in a heterogeneous constituency like Chandni Chowk, which has an almost proportionate representation from Muslims, Punjabis, Vaish, OBCs and Scheduled Castes.
Bedi is expected to find support from Punjabis and Muslims, while retaining the traditional Vaish vote of the BJP. The demographic equation is also likely to go in favour of the BJP post the delimitation of the Chandni Chowk constituency, which has seen a reduction in the Muslim vote which has traditionally supported the Congress.
Chandni Chowk, which is one of the smallest parliamentary constituencies in the country, has been a traditional Congress stronghold. Out of the 14 Lok Sabha elections, Congress has won nine times.
The Congress’ rally was briefly been interrupted between 1998 and 2004, when BJP’s Vijay Goel won the election. Since then, Congress has won the last two elections.
Presently, Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal represents Chandni Chowk in Lok Sabha, who has retained the seat since 2004 when he defeated BJP’s Smriti Irani. In 2009, Sibal won by defeating Vijendra Gupta, who is a prominent Vaish leader of the BJP in the city.
Until recently, Gupta was seen as the likely candidate for this seat, but he has since been sidelined by an Assembly election ticket from New Delhi against Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and Kejriwal.
