Mayoral race heats up: BJP, Congress battle for Gurugram and Manesar

As Gurugram and Manesar voters gear up to elect their mayor directly for the first time, both the BJP and Congress are all set to put their best candidates forward.

Both parties have prepared a panel of three candidates for both the Municipal Corporations and are expected to declare them on February 13.

Both parties will be contesting on their symbols this time. While the BJP is striving to have a "triple engine" governance in the millennium city, the Congress is struggling to make up for their loss in the Haryana and Delhi state elections.

It may be noted that riding high on its power-packed performance in Haryana and Delhi, the BJP was flooded with applicants for 56 councilor tickets and two mayoral tickets.

According to party sources, it received 1,500 applications for the same.

Following a three-day-long brainstorming session by a high-power committee, including Gurugram MP Rao Inderjit Singh, panels have been finalized. Sources claim that both Inderjit, his in-party opponent state minister Rao Narbir, and others gave their lists of "preferred" candidates.

While sources claim that Rao Inderjit is getting an upper hand in Gurugram, Narbir is in Manesar. Interestingly, citing Gurugram as vital, "We had a herculean task as we were flooded with applications. We had around 1,500 people applying for the positions, and it was not just our party members but even many former Congressmen," said a senior BJP leader.

Meanwhile, the Congress has received around 100 applications for these posts, and the party has prepared its own panel of mayors.

A meeting was chaired by senior party leader Karan Dalal, who said that the party was all set to give a tough fight and was confident that it will be chosen to relieve the city of its civic mess. "We have prepared panels and will be announced soon. The party has, in Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections, managed to get its own share of voters who want to see a change in the city's civic situation. Our mayoral candidate in Gurugram will be a tough challenge for the BJP," said local Congress leader Pankaj Dawar.