On his initial outings post the announcement of his candidature, East Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Gautam Gambhir addressed several party workers across the constituency on Thursday.
In the one hour that the party workers had to wait for, at the Amedkar Bhawan in the Patparganj Vidhan Sabha constituency, local leaders repeatedly emphasised how Mr. Gambhir is not “an outsider to the constituency” contrary to allegations being made by other parties in the opposing political corner.
Star power
The former cricketer’s star power seemed to overshadow his new role as a potential Member of Parliament from the constituency where the incumbent, Mahesh Girri, was replaced by the BJP. With phone cameras in place, the fact that a “celebrity” was about to arrive in the locality was palpable among the party workers present. “I should have been on time especially because I am a sportsperson. I value your time,” Mr. Gambhir said apologising for the delay as he reached.
In his brief address to the party workers present, he said, “Our party is very different. We are not the ones who will engage in negative politics. We are concerned with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s legacy and we need to take that forward. I request all the party workers to not bad-mouth other candidates and not criticise them on social media as well. We will only talk about development.”
In an apparent dig at Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Mr. Gambhir said, “Dilli ko Dilli banane ki jaroorat hain, London ya Paris nahi [Delhi needs to be developed as Delhi, the national capital and not transforming it into a London or a Paris]. We need to address local issues and make East Delhi the best constituency.”
As a teenager present at the Gujjar Bhawan in the Trilokpuri Vidhan Sabha constituency forwarded his bat to Mr. Gambhir for his autograph, the former cricketer added, “I also want more youngsters from this constituency to become players.”