04-08-2007, 08:54 AM
<b>Doctor emerges BJP's best bet in Delhi </b>
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Echoing Vardhan's view, BJP leader LK Advani, at whose house winning candidates gathered to celebrate, said, "The people of Delhi have rejected the Congress. I think we will get the same results in the 2008 Assembly election also."
When Vardhan took over as Delhi BJP president, former Chief Minister Madan Lal Khurana was on his way out of the party, having led it to defeat in the 2003 Assembly poll. <b>Khurana left the party shattered and scattered</b>.
The challenge before Vardhan was to get rid of the dead wood and project a new line of leadership.<b> He also had to rescue the party from the clutches of a few veterans who treat it as their fiefdom. He had to confront with perceptively 'taller' politicians like Vijay Kumar Malhotra, Vijay Goel and Sahib Singh Verma.</b>
Never in a hurry, during the initial period Vardhan worked for strengthening the organisation at the grassroots level, raising the ante as the MCD election neared. The results have established him as the most prominent and new face of the Delhi BJP.
He has not only strengthened the organisation<b> but also expanded the party's base in JJ clusters and resettlement colonies, which till now were considered traditional Congress vote-banks. This is borne out by the fact that the BJP has won several seats in resettlement colonies and even Muslim-dominated areas</b>.
By nominating Vardhan in as the Delhi BJP chief in 2003, the leadership made it clear that the days of the parochial old guard were numbered and that the party would now look beyond communities and castes to revive its electoral fortune.
The nomination of Vardhan, an internationally reputed medical professional and the initiator of the pulse polio campaign, has also helped the BJP to attract, as reflected by the results, young and migrant voters. It has enabled the party to project itself as changing with the times and the new political culture of Delhi.
According to Vardhan, when he took over the Delhi BJP, he realised that the complexion of the city had changed. <b>"The days of Bania-Punjabi politics are over</b>. <!--emo&:cool--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/specool.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='specool.gif' /><!--endemo-->Â Any party or institution cannot survive without involving people from all sections of the society, irrespective of their caste or class, whether they are Bihari, Malayali or Bengali," he said.
Justifying his position, he added, "The organisation needs people from all sections to make it more vibrant. This is the reason I<b> have never preferred caste-based politics and I will continue to stick to my line."Â </b> <!--emo&:cool--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/specool.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='specool.gif' /><!--endemo-->
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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Echoing Vardhan's view, BJP leader LK Advani, at whose house winning candidates gathered to celebrate, said, "The people of Delhi have rejected the Congress. I think we will get the same results in the 2008 Assembly election also."
When Vardhan took over as Delhi BJP president, former Chief Minister Madan Lal Khurana was on his way out of the party, having led it to defeat in the 2003 Assembly poll. <b>Khurana left the party shattered and scattered</b>.
The challenge before Vardhan was to get rid of the dead wood and project a new line of leadership.<b> He also had to rescue the party from the clutches of a few veterans who treat it as their fiefdom. He had to confront with perceptively 'taller' politicians like Vijay Kumar Malhotra, Vijay Goel and Sahib Singh Verma.</b>
Never in a hurry, during the initial period Vardhan worked for strengthening the organisation at the grassroots level, raising the ante as the MCD election neared. The results have established him as the most prominent and new face of the Delhi BJP.
He has not only strengthened the organisation<b> but also expanded the party's base in JJ clusters and resettlement colonies, which till now were considered traditional Congress vote-banks. This is borne out by the fact that the BJP has won several seats in resettlement colonies and even Muslim-dominated areas</b>.
By nominating Vardhan in as the Delhi BJP chief in 2003, the leadership made it clear that the days of the parochial old guard were numbered and that the party would now look beyond communities and castes to revive its electoral fortune.
The nomination of Vardhan, an internationally reputed medical professional and the initiator of the pulse polio campaign, has also helped the BJP to attract, as reflected by the results, young and migrant voters. It has enabled the party to project itself as changing with the times and the new political culture of Delhi.
According to Vardhan, when he took over the Delhi BJP, he realised that the complexion of the city had changed. <b>"The days of Bania-Punjabi politics are over</b>. <!--emo&:cool--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/specool.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='specool.gif' /><!--endemo-->Â Any party or institution cannot survive without involving people from all sections of the society, irrespective of their caste or class, whether they are Bihari, Malayali or Bengali," he said.
Justifying his position, he added, "The organisation needs people from all sections to make it more vibrant. This is the reason I<b> have never preferred caste-based politics and I will continue to stick to my line."Â </b> <!--emo&:cool--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/specool.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='specool.gif' /><!--endemo-->
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