State leaders descend on Delhi to woo voters

Adding regional flavour to the Delhi Assembly elections, leaders from across various states are reaching out to specific ethnic segments of voters in the capital.

Congress leaders from Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Haryana have fanned across Delhi with an appeal to voters hailing from their respective regions.

Also ticking attendance here are Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, Tamil Nadu Congress chief EVKS Elangovan and actor-turned-politician Khushboo.
“There is a great demand for Uttarkhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat,” said a senior leader associated with the Congress campaign.

Feisty Bihar MP Ranjeet Ranjan is a hit in regions dominated by Poorvanchalis. Ranjan, who traces her roots to Jammu and Punjab, also can strike a chord with voters from the two regions who have settled in the capital.

A big question though is whether the regional leaders will sway the opinion in Congress’ favour given the high-voltage campaign launched by the Aam Aadmi Party and the BJP.

“Regional leaders do influence voters hailing from their respective region. A leader from Kerala reaching out the a fellow Malayalee settled in the capital does make a difference,” said a Congress leader involved in the campaign.

Regional voters
The regional leaders have been holding door-to-door meetings with Chandy and Chennithala reaching out the voters of Kerala origin in areas such as Jangpura, Ashram, while Elangovan and Khushboo campaigned in RK Puram and Rajinder Nagar areas.

Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda was involved in campaigning in the capital abutting Haryana, particularly the strong Jat population here.

Hooda was also one of the key crowd mobiliser for Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s rally in Badarpur on Sunday.

It has also appointed 14 observers, many of them former MPs and state ministers, to assist the high command zero-in on the right candidate and gave him/her the feedback from the ground.
Former Punjab MP Vijay Inder Singla is the in-charge of the New Delhi segment.

The other observers are former Rajasthan minister Shanti Dhariwal, former MP Lal Chand Kataria, Heera Singh Bhisht from Uttarakhand, former Haryana ministers Ajay Yadav, Geeta Bhukkal and Aftab Ahmed, former Himachal ministers Ram Lal Thakur and Kuldip Sharma, and former speaker of Himachal Assembly Gangu Ram Musafir.
DH News Service