Delhi polls: Mangolpuri's 'Raja' faces 'local girl'

NEW DELHI: Amidst bursting of crackers, loud music and heavy showering of flowers, Mangolpuri constituency's JJ cluster welcomed the area's "Raja"-four-time sitting MLA and PWD minister Raj Kumar Chauhan as he campaigned on Thursday morning. Chauhan's entourage was followed by an auto-rickshaw that played the song, "Mangolpuri ka Raja aa gaya", based on the Bollywood song, "Bachna ae haseeno, lo mai aa gaya".In this reserved constituency, which has close to 65% Scheduled Caste and OBC voters, Chauhan's reign is being challenged by the area's emerging leader, Aam Aadmi Party's 25-year-old candidate, Rakhi Birla. In past elections, Chauhan has had a cakewalk over BJP candidates with a winning margin of over 30,000 votes.
In these elections, the BJP candidate against him is a former Congress sitting councillor, Ram Kishore Nawaria, who was once Chauhan's close aide. Nawaria is banking on the Rohini part of the constituency (Sector 2, 3 and 4) where BJP is expected to do well due to presence of largely upper-caste voters. In past, Chauhan, however, has managed a clean sweep in two wards of urban villages Mangolpur Kalan and Mangolpur Khurd. His previous two rivals from BJP-Raju Valmiki and Laxmi Narayan Tak-have joined Congress and are now helping Chauhan with his elections.
Although satisfied with Chauhan's stint in the area, locals said they are contemplating the option of giving the "young girl" a chance. "It's a tricky situation. There is no denying that Chauhan has done satisfactory work but the new girl is our child. Let's see which button we press on December 4," said Ram Kumar, a resident of the JJ cluster.
At 10am as Chauhan reached the resettlement colony, men, women and children stood in their first floor balconies to shower flowers on the leader as he walked into the newly-constructed lanes of the cluster. A few metres away, Chauhan stopped at a slum to say, "soon you will get pucca houses right here." Minutes later Chauhan's path was crossed by an auto-rickshaw with a loudspeaker which was playing AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal's plea for votes for an "imandaar party", a claim immediately rubbished by a Chauhan supporter.
"I don't have to do much talking in my area-it's my work that speaks. Even a four-year-old child here recognizes me and screams Raj Kumar every time I pass by," said Chauhan as he pointed towards the concrete roads constructed by him in the area.
Chauhan and his two sons - Bobby and Amit-who have been managing his campaign have been working round the clock to explain to people that the "price rise" is a temporary phenomenon. "The other day an old woman was complaining about the price rise; I jokingly asked her the price of her gold earrings and asked whether its price had gone up over the years? Everything has become expensive over the years. However, the government has taken all possible measures to control it," said Chauhan.