Cong workers agitated over some prospective candidates

New Delhi, Oct 31 (UNI) The release of the list of propective Congress candidates for the elections to 53 seats in the Delhi Legislative Assembly last week has caused a stir in party circles with workers from several areas expressing resentment over some of the names making the round in the media.

Among the names appearing in the list of prospective candidates on television channels last week, the name of Mr Akhil Bansal from the Shalimar Bagh seat has caused a lot of heartburn among local Congress workers who have expressed their displeasure over consideration of the name of a person who is a relative outsider in party circles.

Congress workers and leaders from the Shalimar Bagh area today carried out a protest 'dharna' over the name of Mr Akhil Bhansal being circulated as the prospective candidate for the Shalimar Bagh seat.

Prominent among those who participated in the 'dharna' were former assembly candidate Sarla Kaushik, former MCD candidate from the area G S Neol and senior Congress leaders Naresh Gupta and Ramvilas Agarwal.

''The Congress workers from the area are agitated over Mr Akhil Bansal, a relative outsider, being considered for the seat. What has caused heartburn among the Congressmen is the fact that name of Mr Bansal, who came to stay in Shalimar Bagh only three months ago and who is not even a voter from the area, has been considered above several loyal party workers who have been serving the party for the last three decades,'' senior Congress leader from the area Naresh Gupta said.

In this context, Mr Gupta informed that reports of the party giving precedence to Mr Bansal, who was not even a primary member of the party, over loyal Congress workers of the area, was definitely a cause of resentment in the activists as well as the people living in the area.

Informing that Mr Bansal is the son of the Samajwadi Party chairman from Shamli, Rajender Bansal, Mr Gupta said,''imagine if a person from Shalimar Bagh were to go and stay in Shamli and given a ticket to contest from the area, would it not cause stir among the people of Shamli. The similar is the state of mind of people of Shalimar Bagh.'' He, however, expressed the hope that the matter would be resolved to the satisfaction of the Congress workers.

''The senior party leaders have assured us that the reports circulating the media about Mr Bansal being the party candidate from Shalimar Bagh are untrue and that the list of candidates for various Assembly seats in Delhi is yet to be finalised,'' Mr Gupta said.

Reports appearing in several sections of the media last Saturday had said the congress had finalised candidates for the 53 assembly seats in Delhi.

UNI AR SKB BD1502