Which would be the final port of anchor for Poonam Azad, the better-half of cricketer turned-politician, is something to which nobody seems to have an answer?
Her first choice is to get a nomination from Kirari assembly segment from where Anil Jha of BJP is the sitting MLA. This seat falls in Poorvanchal quota and Jha was made a candidate of the party only because of the Poorvanchal factor. He managed to get a ticket ahead of Poonam last time as Jha then enjoyed the blessings of Arun Jaitley.
In cricket politics, Jaitley and Azad are now in warring camps. Poonam had contested 2003 polls from Gole Market losing to chief minister Sheila Dikshit. In 1998, Dikshit had defeated Poonam’s husband Kirti Azad, who was then a sitting MLA.
This time around, however, Jha is facing image crisis - he has been indicted by Lokayukta in a case of bribery. But there are chances that party may retain him for two reasons - the charge is based on statement not evidences so could not be converted into a police case and secondly party won three of the four wards in recent MCD election from this seat. Here two more Poorvanchal leaders Narendra and Ram Gopal are also trying their fate.
Besides trying to usurp Jha’s ticket, Azad and her husband have kept open two more options - Dwarka and Vikaspuri. In Dwarka, sitting BJP MLA Pradyuman Rajput has a weak point - BJP lost all the four wards in last MCD election in 2012. But Azad’s Poorvanchal claim has been contested by Delhi University teacher Sanjeev Kumar Tiwari, who is also a member of the party’s state executive.
If not accommodated in these two seats, Azad wants that she should be accommodated in Vikaspuri, where party’s west district president Krihna Gehlot is a front-runner. He lost the seat by just 943 votes to Congress in 2008 polls.
Her first choice is to get a nomination from Kirari assembly segment from where Anil Jha of BJP is the sitting MLA. This seat falls in Poorvanchal quota and Jha was made a candidate of the party only because of the Poorvanchal factor. He managed to get a ticket ahead of Poonam last time as Jha then enjoyed the blessings of Arun Jaitley.
In cricket politics, Jaitley and Azad are now in warring camps. Poonam had contested 2003 polls from Gole Market losing to chief minister Sheila Dikshit. In 1998, Dikshit had defeated Poonam’s husband Kirti Azad, who was then a sitting MLA.
This time around, however, Jha is facing image crisis - he has been indicted by Lokayukta in a case of bribery. But there are chances that party may retain him for two reasons - the charge is based on statement not evidences so could not be converted into a police case and secondly party won three of the four wards in recent MCD election from this seat. Here two more Poorvanchal leaders Narendra and Ram Gopal are also trying their fate.
Besides trying to usurp Jha’s ticket, Azad and her husband have kept open two more options - Dwarka and Vikaspuri. In Dwarka, sitting BJP MLA Pradyuman Rajput has a weak point - BJP lost all the four wards in last MCD election in 2012. But Azad’s Poorvanchal claim has been contested by Delhi University teacher Sanjeev Kumar Tiwari, who is also a member of the party’s state executive.
If not accommodated in these two seats, Azad wants that she should be accommodated in Vikaspuri, where party’s west district president Krihna Gehlot is a front-runner. He lost the seat by just 943 votes to Congress in 2008 polls.