External and internal challenges keep Chandigarh candidates on their toes

CHANDIGARH: For voters of Chandigarh constituency, Lok Sabha polls mean a familiar face or two on the ballot. But it is an entirely different scenario this time as there are no repeat candidates. Congress leader and former Union minister Manish Tewari, who is contesting from Chandigarh for the first time, is pitted against the BJP’s Sanjay Tandon, who is eyeing his Parliament debut from this seat.

To field Tewari, the Congress has benched former Union minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, who was the party’s Chandigarh candidate in the past four elections. The BJP, too, has dropped sitting MP Kirron Kher, who has represented the seat twice.

Tewari, 58, hopes to spoil the BJP’s chances with the support of the AAP whereas Tandon, 60, believes his ‘local man’ status will help him. Tandon is the former chief of BJP’s Chandigarh unit.

As the fight gets fiercer, both have a common problem to deal with — bickering in their respective camps. Denying ticket to Bansal caused a mini revolt in the Congress with many local leaders resigning. They were triggered after Congress’s Chandigarh unit chief H S Lucky allegedly mocked Bansal on the ticket issue. For the record, Bansal maintains he is a Congress loyalist but is hardly seen campaigning for Tewari.

All is not well with the BJP either as former MP Satya Pal Jain, who was keen to contest again from Chandigarh, is hardly campaigning for Tandon.

Not just Jain, many other party leaders and councilors have been conspicuous by their absence in Tandon’s campaign. Despite these challenges, both the candidates have their hopes up. The full support of the AAP will also come in handy for Tewari while the Modi factor will boost Tandon’s prospects.