In a first direct election to the Mayor for the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) — the second largest municipal corporation going to the polls on March 2 following the Faridabad with 36 wards and around nine lakh voters — the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress are set for a face-off with only two candidates — one each from the two parties — in the fray for the coveted post.
Leaving no stone unturned the Congress, contesting Municipal polls in the State for the first time, and the BJP have not just deployed the top State leadership to hold meetings, door-to-door campaigns, and roadshows, but are also importing leaders from the neighbouring States of Delhi and Rajasthan to woo different sections of the voters.
While Chief Minister Nayab Saini held a roadshow in Gurugram over the weekend in favour of BJP candidate Raj Rani and the newly-appointed Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta is expected to campaign for the party in Faridabad, the Congress is mulling a roadshow by Rajasthan leader Sachin Pilot, a prominent Gujjar leader.
Also, both parties this time have come up with a general manifesto for all 33 Municipal bodies going to the polls and city-specific manifestos as well focusing on the issues pertaining to different civic bodies.
Though the Congress’ top State leadership, including party president Udaibhan and former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, were recently in Gurugram along with the MLAs to release the party’s manifestos, the party’s Gurugram election In-charge Karan Dalal, a former MLA as part of a strategy, had its Gurugram Mayor campaign mostly around its candidate, Seema Pahuja, instead of focussing on the “star campaigners”.
“With the electorate in Gurugram, the Millennium City, perceived to be more aware and educated, the party has decided that the candidate be the focus of the campaign. Instead of luring the voters with the meetings of big leaders, we are holding small meetings aiming at different sections of voters and group housing societies addressed mostly by our candidate,” said Mr. Dalal.
“Unlike the BJP candidate, who is new to electoral politics, our candidate is a two-time councillor and knows the ins-outs of the governance. Despite the BJP being in power in the State and the MCG, the city has been a complete mess with open waste dumping, water-logging, broken roads and menace of stray cattle,” quipped Mr. Dalal.
He countered the BJP’s oft-repeated utterance of a “triple engine government”, saying the statement itself was an insult to the Constitution as Municipal bodies ought to be independent entities with no interference from the State and Central governments.
Mr. Dalal also accused the BJP of gross misuse of government machinery, a charge refuted by the BJP leaders as an “excuse” in the face of a certain defeat.
Putting into perspective the significance of the Mayoral election, Bharat Vikas Parishad Haryana vice-president Vivekanand Tiwari said the MCG encompassed the Badshahpur and Gurugram Assembly segments and a portion of the Sohna Assembly seat as well with a budget of more than a thousand crore, thus making Gurugram Mayor’s political clout at par with a Minister.
With all three Assembly segments held by the BJP, Mr. Tiwari exuded confidence that the BJP’s win was a “foregone conclusion” and the contest was merely about the “margin of the victory”. “In fact, Congress could not find a candidate to field and, thus, chose a turncoat, who had quit the BJP during the Assembly election last year and joined the Congress after the announcement of the municipal polls recently,” he said.
Seeking votes on the promise of basic amenities, such as drinking water, and fixing the issues of water-logging and waste management, Ms. Rani’s husband Tilak Raj, with decades old Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh association, conceded that there had been “gaps” despite the party being in power for long. “All these shortcomings are in my knowledge. We have the will power to work. If we are voted to power, people will notice the difference. We want Gurugram to top the list of clean cities in the country,” said Mr. Raj, a former Gurugram BJP president.
With a few days to go before the poll, the couple has been attending 30-40 meetings daily starting at the day’s break till late at night, while trying to connect with the rest on the social media through Facebook, WhatsApp groups and Instagram.
Pitted against each other, both Mayor candidates for the Gurugram municipal corporation, which is reserved for OBC-A women, belong to the same ‘sonar’ caste, and are distant relatives. Three wards each in the municipal corporation are reserved for the Scheduled Castes and the OBC and ten for the women.
Defending her mother against allegations of being politically novice, Ms. Rani’s daughter Jyotsana, an ophthalmologist, described her a “super woman”, who had not just been a pillar of strength for her husband and raised her children well, but also successfully handled the family’s jewellery business for decades. “She is new, admitted, but she has a vision for the city,” remarked Jyotsana, with a spark in her eyes.
The “rebels”, however, remain a common challenge to both the parties, with the BJP state unit expelling around 50 leaders, including former Mayor Vimal Yadav, and the Congress initiating action against the two so far. Though the BJP leaders downplayed the threat, saying that most of them had fallen in line, Mr. Dalal said there were a large number of rebels harming the party’s prospects, but the party was unable to take action against them due to lack of an organisational set up at the block and district levels, which he said was another handicap for the Congress.
Published – February 26, 2025 04:47 pm IST