Maken aware of anti-Congress wave, banks on his own image

Congress general secretary and New Delhi Lok Sabha candidate Ajay Maken is trying his best to strike a personal chord with voters. He has avoided any reference to Gandhi family, his government or Congress party in his speeches. His supporters also have only one face and one slogan on their banners, which say, ‘Ajay Maken Jindabad’.

‘I saved your shops from sealing and even allowed you to add one extra floor to your houses so that you could earn more rent by amendment in the Master Plan of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA),’ Maken said to the villagers of Garhi village in Kasturba Nagar area. 

‘I know your main source of income comes from renting out shops and residential flats. We are pushing one more amendment in DDA Master Plan to increase the heights of your buildings from existing 15 meters to 17.5 meters, for which DDA has already started the process. Soon you would be able to add one more flat to your building for rent,’ Maken assured village elders. 

Projecting his clean image Maken said, ‘I have been a public representative for the last 21 years during which time I was assigned to several ministerial posts in Delhi and Central government. I feel proud that I kept my image clean and no one can dare to raise fingers against me,’ he announced. Amid the cheering crowed and thunderous applause Maken silently put his desire to establish his personal hat trick in this constituency.

His supporters admit that there is a strong wave against Congress government. ‘It’s clear that there is strong Modi wave in the country and BJP is the main challenge. But we are supporting him as he is a good candidate,’ said Mahesh Chodhary. Another villager more candidly admitted that those who voted Congress and Aam Aadmi Party are strongly in favour of BJP. ‘The youth want Modi and it’s a fact. Hence, we are focussing more on the image of our candidate,’ said Naresh Basoya, a local Congress worker.

In the recently concluded assembly elections AAP had won seven out of ten assembly seats of New Delhi LS seat and BJP got three, while the Congress could not open its account. But this time a triangular contest is imminent.