Delhi Congress big shots disappear from sight now

Once considered as the second in command during the Sheila Dikshit’s regime of 15 years, many city Congress leaders have virtually disappeared from active politics after the Delhi Assembly elections’ results came in.

A series of cabinet rejigs led to the downfall of careers of leaders like former health minister A K Walia, former minister of industries and labour Mangat Ram Singhal, former Speaker of Delhi Assembly Yoganand Shastri and many other senior leaders, who were considered as the successor of Dikshit.

Parvez Hashmi, who was once the transport minister in Diskhit’s government, is also inactive in politics after being appointed as the Rajya Sabha MP from the party.

Hashmi and his son had applied for a party ticket in the last assembly elections, but sources say due to immense pressure of Sheila Dikshit, he was denied ticket.

“We can’t say that they have disappeared from active politics. Till the time there are no elections in the city, there is least political development.

Many of the city Congress leaders have been sent to other states for political campaigns also,” said a senior city Congress leader.

Dikshit had invited sitting MLA from Okhla Asif Mohammad Khan, who is considered as an arch-rival of Hashmi, to join the Congress party.

It is understood that Dikshit wanted to secure his son Sandeep Dikshit’s East Delhi parliamentary seat, as sitting MLA Khan was willing to contest the parliamentary elections.

Apart from these leaders, veteran Congress leaders like Tajdar Babar, Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar are also not active in Delhi’s politics for past several years. All they have got is some posts in the party’s city unit.

Kumar was, however, approached by the party’s state unit chief Arvinder Singh Lovely to make party vice president Rahul Gandhi’s Ambedkar Nagar rally successful, but after that he has not been witnessed in any of the party’s major activity. Kumar is facing criminal charges for 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

Babar’s son Farhad Suri is the leader of opposition in South Delhi Municipal Corporation. He was also denied ticket from the Okhla Assembly constituency in last Assembly elections.
All of these leaders are hardly seen in the Delhi Congress headquarters after the Assembly election results.
DH News Service