NEW DELHI, Feb 15: A euphoric Shiela Dikshit, the Congress candidate from east Delhi, on Saturday afternoon, roped in cine-star Sharmila Tagore to woo the voters of Seelampur. She also claimed to have the support of the east Delhi wing of the Janata Dal.As campaigning came to an end at 5 p.m., she said she was close to victory. The BJP, on the other hand, claimed that the Congressmen were counting their chickens before they hatched.
Meanwhile, even Dikshit supporters were being cautious. ``Depends on the voting pattern. If the voting is more than 40 per cent then nothing will stop her from entering Parliament. If not, the BJP stands to gain,'' a Congress activist said at a press briefing.
On the last day of campaigning, Tagore addressed the residents of Seelampur. She spoke of her close association with Dikshit. Tagore said that she had known Dikshit for a long time and asserted that the people of east Delhi were indeed fortunate to have her as their candidate.
The Congress exploited Sonia Gandhi'sDelhi rally to the fullest and clarified their stand while speaking to the minority community. The party also received a shot in the arm when Ram Kishore Gupta, east district Janata Dal president pledged support to the Congress. Gupta said that the JD had lost its purpose and had strayed away from its ideal.
``And to keep the communal forces at bay we are supporting the Congress,'' he added. Congress activists maintained that they had reached the crescendo of campaigning at the right time unlike the BJP which had peaked prematurely. Rambir Singh Bhiduri, the erstwhile JD candidate from east Delhi now a part of the Congress, also claimed that he would help the Congress win by a large margin.
Holding a series of corner-meetings, the BJP leaders tried to counter Sonia Gandhi's impact on Delhi. `The Congress claimed that they would have a large number of people attending her rally; almost two million. But there were less than 60 thousand people there. The Congress is responsible for the sad state of affairsin the country and for the elections forced on the people,' the BJP leaders claimed.
The BJP supporters organised a series of street plays. They regaled the audience lampooning Congress president Sitaram Kesri, (villain of the play), star campaigner Sonia Gandhi (actress from Romewood) and Rahul, Priyanka and her husband (extras).
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
