Congress puts up sister against her brother for Delhi polls

The election mood in the national Capital is picking up with each passing day. With the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidates jumping ship, the Congress is planning to put up a contender against her brother in an East Delhi constituency for the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections.

The party is planning to pitch councillor Preeti as the party face and win the support of citizens living in East Delhi's Shahdara constituency for the upcoming Assembly elections.

She has been a councillor while representing the Congress for more than 10 years.

Interestingly, she is the sister of Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Jitender Shunty who represents this constituency.

In 2008, he had contested on an Akali Dal ticket and lost to Dr Narendra Nath of the Congress.

A senior Congress leader said: "The party is planning to make Preeti its candidate from Shahdara constituency. She has a good hold in the Seemapuri cluster area which is one of the important parts of the constituency. She has even started putting up posters in her area."

According to sources, this year the fight for Shahdara constituency will be quite exciting, as some interesting candidates are likely to throw their hats in the ring.

If sources are to be believed, the BJP might ask Nirmal Jain to contest from the area. He was earlier the councillor from the party and the district president of the party.

The Aam Aadmi Party has decided to nominate Ram Niwas Goyal who was earlier associated with the BJP.

Another Congress leader said: "If Preeti contests for the party, she will give a tough competition to other aspirants. Residents of Seemapuri cluster are extremely fond of her. Besides, her association with Shunty might also help in winning some support."

However, some senior leaders doubt this strategy adopted by the party.

However, one partyman said: "Preeti is extremely close to Shunty. It will be interesting to see how she will put up a fight against her brother who has always been very close."

The grand old party is now all gearing up to prepare the final list of candidates and the party manifesto.

Senior party leaders are conducting regular meetings to decide on the aspirants from each constituency.

A leader said: "This is a crucial phase and everyone is working very hard to decide the candidate from each constituency. The party is also looking at making some additions to the existing list of applicants."