CONGRESS WORKERS PROTEST AGAINST NOMINATION OF 'OUTSIDER' AS PARTY'S NORTH WEST DELHI CANDIDATE

New Delhi, Apr 22 (PTI) A section of Congress workers on Monday held a protest against the nomination of former BJP MP Udit Raj as the party's Lok Sabha polls candidate from North West Delhi.

The protesters gathered outside the Congress office at Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg and raised slogans against "outsiders" fielded by the Congress in the Lok Sabha elections.

Raj won from North West Delhi in the 2014 elections as a BJP candidate. He joined the Congress after the saffron party denied him a ticket in 2019.

Rajesh Rathore, a Congress worker, said "a local leader" should have been fielded from the constituency.

"Several workers of the Congress have gathered here to protest. We were expecting that the party would give the ticket to a local leader who would give a tough fight to the BJP," he said.

In response, Raj alleged the protesters were "not of sound mind" and should be expelled from the party.

"They are not of sound mind. I was an MP from 2014 to 2019 and now I have become an outsider. They have destroyed the party and should be expelled," Raj said and added that he will win with a huge margin.

Arvinder Singh Lovely, the Congress' Delhi unit chief, said during a press conference that everyone in the party is allowed to raise their voice.

Lovely on Monday presented the party's three candidates in Delhi -- Jai Prakash Agarwal from Chandni Chowk, Kanhaiya Kumar from North East Delhi and Raj -- at a press conference in the party office.

"The Congress is the only party where everyone is allowed to raise their voice. This shows that there is a lot of demand for Congress tickets," he said.

Kumar contested the 2019 general elections as a CPI candidate from the Begusarai seat in Bihar.

The Congress is contesting the Lok Sabha elections in an alliance with AAP in Delhi. As part of its seat-share arrangement, the Congress is contesting from three seats while AAP has fielded candidates from four constituencies in the national capital.

Delhi's seven Lok Sabha seats will go to the polls in the sixth phase on May 25.

2024-04-22T14:26:54Z dg43tfdfdgfd