No names yet to replace Tytler,Sajjan,workers in holiday mood

The gate guarding Kumar’s home,which was open almost all hours of the day till early last week,was clamped shut on Tuesday. Behind the iron is a sprawling lawn,leading to Kumar’s office — a man who rode up the rank from a tea stall he owned near Ajmal Khan Road.

The usually polite guards and staff tersely remind you that the owner of the house is out of town. But a sudden alert from inside,the quick change of staff at the gate,the iron grills parting to allow a car out,belie those claims and give away Kumar’s hideout.

While the staff maintain he is away since the weekend,the 64-year-old leader has been reportedly seen at the AICC office,‘lobbying’ for his son to get the ticket from South Delhi. It is learnt Kumar vehemently opposes Mehrauli MLA Yoganand Shastri’s possible candidature.

Setting the scene outside Tytler’s Rakabganj Road home was an equally quiet frontage,with the staff being upfront about the leader not interested in meeting the media.

And the workers are sitting the days out. In the South Delhi constituency,BJP candidate Ramesh Bidhuri’s campaign is on in full steam,and so is BSP’s Kanwar Singh Tanwar’s road show. But Congress workers are recouping,most having gone on mini-holidays. One supporter,who is just back from Mussoorie,said: “There is nothing to do now.”

Meanwhile,it is learnt the party has zeroed in on Delhi Congress chief JP Aggarwal to mobilise the trader vote in the Northeast constituency. In South,the party plans to counter Ramesh Bidhuri’s Gurjjar appeal by putting up a Jat,as the electorate here is evenly divided among these two communities.

Looking back,both Kumar and Tytler had kept a low profile ever since the Nanavati Commission report in 2004 suggested their involvement in the anti-Sikh riots of 1984. Kumar stepped down as head of the Rural Development Board and Tytler as minister for NRI Affairs. However,they resurfaced this year once their names were announced as candidates.

They were also spotted assuaging their strained relations with Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit after she was voted to the Assembly for the third time.