When Kapil Sibal last fought elections from the Chandni Chowk seat in Delhi in 2004, it was the second smallest constituency in India. Now it encompasses 10 Assembly segments, many of them strongholds of the BJP. This is however the least of Sibal's problems.
Sibal is a successful lawyer, Union minister and a high ranking Congressman, and his ordinary constituents appear to believe that it sets him apart from them. "Bade acche aadmi hain lekin inse kuch kehne ko sankoch hota hai (he is a nice man, but I am shy about telling him about our problems)," says Preeti Chaddha, a housewife from Shalimar Bagh, a newly added segment and BJP bastion, to Sibal's constituency.
Anil Jhingan, a shopkeeper in Sadar Bazaar remains tongue tied when Sibal asks him for votes. After Sibal leaves Jhingan loosens up a bit. "I have heard that he is a very big lawyer and I see him on TV almost everyday," he says. "I've met the BJP candidate Vijender Gupta lots of times during the anti-sealing agitation," he adds.
Is Sibal's success and high class connections working against him? As he does a walkabout in Sadar area, in pristine white, Sibal rubbishes these allusions. "My family was uprooted and homeless in 1947 when we came to Delhi. My father raised five children on a salary of Rs 300, I walked three miles to school everyday. God has been very kind to me, that's all I can say," he said.
"I polled 71 per cent of the vote in the last elections, that means every section of society voted for me. You cannot win elections without connecting," he said.
His rival from the BJP is municipal councilor Vijender Gupta, who is comfortable talking about gutters, roads and sanitation. Sibal's portfolio in the Union Cabinet was science and technology and to his credit he seems to be cashing in on it. "I commissioned research to come up with a solar powered rickshaw, a fire proof jhuggi jhopri and devices to help coolies carry luggage," he says.
Sibal's strength is that his national profile ensures that the squabbling Congress leadership in the state has rallied behind him. His weakness is that he is a pugnacious lawyer. His rival is not a national figure, but belongs to the powerful Vaish community in the area. In this situation, Sibal will have to stoop to conquer, even talk about gutters for a change.
