Battlefield New Delhi: Kejriwal set to take on sons of two former CMS

Contest hots up?

- Alok KN Mishra

NEW DELHI: As the national capital heads for a high-octane assembly election, nothing exemplifies the contest more than the likely showdown in the city's highest profile seat - New Delhi - where former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal may face the sons of two former Delhi CMs.

While the Congress has already named Sandeep Dikshit, son of three-term Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit, as the candidate, and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is likely to field Parvesh Sahib Singh, son of former chief minister Sahib Singh Verma.

"I have been asked to prepare to contest from the New Delhi constituency," Parvesh told HT on Saturday. He added that the AAP's "10 years of misrule have brought Delhi to the brink of ruin", and promised accessibility and responsiveness, vowing to be with residents "24 hours a day in your happiness and sorrow".

To be sure, the BJP has not yet released its list of candidates and has not yet officially announced him as the candidate for the seat. However, two senior Delhi BJP leaders indicated that Singh, a two-time West Delhi MP, will be the party's contestant from New Delhi. His father Sahib Singh Verma was Delhi's fourth chief minister and remained in office from February 1996 to October 1998.