Bansal gets BSP’s backing

CHANDIGARH, Jan 27: The Bahujan Samaj Party today decided to support the Congress in the City during the forthcoming polls to be held on Feb...

CHANDIGARH, Jan 27: The Bahujan Samaj Party today decided to support the Congress in the City during the forthcoming polls to be held on February 16.Addressing mediapersons, BSP local unit president Mata Ram Dhiman said the decision to support Congress nominee Pawan Kumar Bansal was taken in order to defeat the BJP and to help keep it out of power. The BSP already has a poll tie-up with the Congress in Punjab, while it is supporting the Haryana Lok Dal (Rashtriya) in Haryana.

The decision to support the Congress in the City comes after Kanshi Ram had specifically told Newsline, during his visit here, that they would go it alone in the Union Territory since there was only one seat.

Dhiman said the decision had the consent of BSP supremo Kanshi Ram. Dhiman claimed that his party enjoyed the support of a few thousand voters in the constituency, which has a total electorate of about 5.25 lakh.

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Speaking on the occasion, the Congress candidate and president of the CTCC, Pawan Kumar Bansal, said the decision would help the Congress serve the downtrodden and poor besides strengthen its position in the CityMeanwhile, Bansal, was among the seven candidates who filed their nominations today, taking the total number of those who have filed their papers to ten.

Bansal filed a set of four nomination papers, each proposed by Congressmen Jagan Nath Kaushal, B.B. Bahl, Shyam Lal Gupta and Subhash Chawla. Daulat Ram Sharma, a former president of CTCC, was his covering candidate, whose papers were proposed by Pawan Sharma. He filed one set of papers.

Earlier, Bansal was accorded a warm welcome by jubilant Congress workers on his arrival at the DC office, before filing his nominations. Before fililing his nominations, Bansal visited the Mata Mansa Devi temple and the Saketri temple, besides Nada Sahib Gurdwara, alongwith his family members and friends.

Others who filed their papers today were Sunul Saini, an independent of Ajeya Bharat Party, Sajjan Singh, an independent, Ravi Parkash, an independent from Lok Shakti party, Des Raj Gupta, a former BJP leader and now president of the Chandigarh Vikas Party, and Bimla, an independent of BSP-Ambedkar party.