Raj Babbar files papers, Gurgaon no longer a contest between Ahirs

Tribune News Service

Sumedha Sharma

Gurugram, May 3

For the first time ever since its inception as a constituency, Lok Sabha elections will not be a war of the Ahirs. Congress candidate, actor Raj Babbar accompanied by former CM and senior Congress leader Bhupender Singh Hooda and Congress president Uday Bhan filed his nominations today.

Has nothing to offer

Raj Babbar has nothing to offer to this constituency. People have to just choose between entertainment and development. Rao Inderjit Singh, BJP candidate

Considered Hooda’s recommendation, Babbar will have a tough task ahead as he has been stamped as an ‘outsider’ by veteran BJP MP Rao Inderjit Singh and JJP candidate rapper Rahul Yadav Fazilpuria.

“Babbar has nothing to offer to this constituency. People have to just choose between entertainment and development,” says BJP candidate Rao Inderjit Singh.

“Before making any promise to the people I would like Babbar to tell us. Where does he live in the constituency, where can people meet him?,” asks JJP candidate Rahul Yadav Fazilpuria.

While Babbar held a public meeting of party workers before filing nominations, his failure to impress was evident with empty chairs around. But he made a strong statement that he was neither an “outsider” nor an “alien” to the constituency.

“Gurgaon is no different from the entire country. It faces the same issues as the country owing to BJP rule. I don’t come with fake promises. Voters are intelligent. If you feel the BJP has given you your due, if the current regime is accountable and given you development, don’t vote for me, but if its change that you want to see on the ground give me a chance,” said Babbar.

Gurgaon with over 25 lakh voters has been the toughest decision to make for the Congress in finding a suitable candidate. It has been an ahir-dominated seat since decades but this time around, the party chose senior leader Raj Babbar. While the choice, supported by the Hooda faction, lead to an uproar in other camps of the Congress, senior party leaders consider it as a calculated move to reign in the untapped Punjabi community voters.

As per an internal survey of the party, Gurgaon has over 3 lakh Punjabi voters. This voter base has been seeking representation since the last Lok Sabha polls and is strongly supported by former Haryana CM and BJP leader Manohar Lal Khattar. Babbar, meanwhile, is well aware of what infighting can do to his candidature and is warming up to local leaders and is soon slated to meet the ahir leader and party’s OBC chairman Capt Ajay Singh Yadav soon to seek his support.

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