Two-time member of Parliament from Punjab, 58-year-old Manish Tewari has been entrusted with the Congress ticket to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls from Chandigarh for the first time.
“I would like to carry forward the good work done by my predecessors,” said Manish Tewari.
Born in Chandigarh, Tewari was chosen over four-time MP Pawan Kumar Bansal, 75, who was also vying for the ticket.
Congress chose Manish Tewari from Chandigarh
To be backed by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Congress’ INDIA bloc partner, Tewari has been pitted against BJP’s Sanjay Tandon, a Lok Sabha poll debutant.
Talking with various news media platform, Tewari said he would like to thank the senior party leadership, including Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi.
He also thanked Priyanka Gandhi and party general secretary KC Venugopal, as well as Chandigarh leadership, including Pawan Kumar Bansal and Harmohinder Singh Lucky, and numerous others for giving him the chance to contest from his birthplace, Chandigarh.
“I would like to carry forward the good work done by my predecessors,” he said, while not sharing any further plans for his campaign.
The Chandigarh fields burst out on debate over ‘Insider vs Outsider’
With Manish Tewari being fielded by the Congress from the Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat against the BJP’s Sanjay Tandon, a debate has kicked off over which of them has the better claim to be a local.
The BJP had charged that Tewari had no experience of working in the city and termed him as ‘Ticket Badlo’.
Chandigarh BJP president Jatinder Pal Malhotra told to various news media platform that the Congress has given the ticket to a candidate who first fought from Ludhiana and then from Anandpur Sahib.
In response, Tewari told, “BJP cadres have been spreading that I am a outsider and not from Chandigarh. I was born and brought up in the city and thus have better claim over the city. You should ask them if Prime Minister Narendra Modi is from Varanasi. These are parliamentary elections and not local municipality polls.”
Asked about Tewari’s comment on PM Modi, the BJP’s Malhotra said, “PM Modi has twice contested from Varanasi and won. He never changed his seat.”
Supporters of Tewari pointed out BJP candidate Tandon was born in Amritsar
Tandon is the son of former Punjab cabinet minister and Chhattisgarh governor Balramji Das Tandon, who died in 2018.
He was president of the Chandigarh BJP for many years. He has authored a series of inspirational stories called Sunrays, along with his wife Priya, the daughter of M.M. Punchhi who retired as the Chief Justice of India.
In the 2019 elections, Congress gave a ticket to Pawan Bansal from Chandigarh seat. Bansal, who was an MP from Chandigarh seat, had to face defeat at the hands of Kiran Kher in this election.
After the Congress declared Tiwari as its candidate from Chandigarh, a few party leaders who are close to former MP Pawan Kumar Bansal resigned from their posts.
These include vice-president of the local unit of the party Hafiz Anwar Ul Haq, Chandigarh INTUC president Naseeb Jakhar, women wing president Deepa Dubey and Ravi Thakur.
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