Hope to represent Chandigarh: Tewari

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 16

Former Union Minister and Congress leader Manish Tewari today expressed his desire to contest from the Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat in the coming General Election. He was speaking on the sidelines of an NSUI seminar on “Youth and Politics” at Panjab University (PU).

“Every worker hopes that the party will give him a chance to fight, but the party has to decide on it. I am closely connected with Chandigarh. I hope to represent Chandigarh, but the party leadership has to take a decision,” he said.

He said he was born and brought up in Chandigarh. “I went to school and college here. My parents worked here. I have an emotional attachment with the city,” he said. On the other hand, former Union Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal is also a contender from the seat. Bansal had consecutively won in 1999, 2004 and 2009, but lost in 2014. He had also represented Chandigarh from 1991 to 1996.

On the General Election, Tewari said there would be a fight between “dictatorship and democracy” and “jumla banam kaam (false promise vs work)”. He described the present government as that of “one and a half people (PM Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah)”.

During his lecture to students, he traced the history of students’ movements in the country. He said, “It is a mistake to enter politics at 25 or 30. Though it is good if you are politically active when you are in a college or university, you must make a career. Politics can’t become a career, but a cause. It can become a mission, but you must be economically sound.” He added, “You have to be super excellent, only then you can survive. Once you have achieved something and you are 45, you can spend the next 20 years in politics.”