The Congress has pitted its youth leader Kanhaiya Kumar from the North East Delhi seat against Bharatiya Janata Party’s siting MP Manoj Tiwari. The Congress is contesting only on three seats in Delhi under a 3:4 seat-sharing agreement with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
Kanhaiya Kumar, who is currently the All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge of the National Students Union of India (NSUI), said, “The decision of the Congress will give a message to the country that we are fighting the Lok Sabha elections with strength…We will continue our fight for justice.”
The former Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) president came to the limelight in 2016 following his arrest for allegedly raising “anti-national” slogans on the university campus. He was later released after a probe proved that the slogans were raised by an outsider. He joined the Congress in September 2021 and contested the last Lok Sabha elections from Bihar’s Begusarai. However, he lost to BJP’s Giriraj Singh.
Manoj Tiwari, who is representing the North East Delhi seat for a second consecutive term, questioned, without naming Kanihiya Kumar, “how responsible could be those who led a tukde-tukde gang and who cannot respect the country and its army”.
“Those who have come for a 40-day tour will also see the work done with ₹14,600 crore in my area. They will see how, for the first time, Metro trains, central schools, passport office, elevated roads and a bridge like the Signature bridge were developed in North East Delhi,” Manoj Tiwari said.
The BJP MP alleged the Congress always “ignored” North East Delhi, and hoped Kanhaiya Kumar would be able to see how an MP can do development works worth ₹14,600 crore in his constituency.
(With inputs from ANI)
