Dolly Sharma, a 34-year-old MBA, was busy running her cloth merchandising business till 2017. She made a surprise entry into politics that year when the Congress gave her the ticket for the mayoral election in Ghaziabad.
Although she lost the mayoral election, she pipped several veterans when she got the party ticket for the Ghaziabad Lok Sabha seat this time. She is the youngest of the 12 candidates from Ghaziabad and one of the only two women nominees, the other being Divya Yogmaya Saraswati.
Since losing the mayoral polls to BJP’s Asha Sharma, she has been involved in active politics and her interaction with the public will help her now, Sharma believes.
Sharma feels that as Ghaziabad is her home, she has an edge over her rival Gen (retd) VK Singh of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who is the sitting MP from the constituency.
“After the 2017 election, I have been involved full time in politics and this has helped me connect with people in different areas. It has been my experience that people want a local person as their MP, one who is available and knows the city in and out. General Singh is hardly available and people have raised this issue time and again. I am from Ghaziabad and will be available here,” Sharma says.
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Sharma also says the other factor that goes in her favour is that Congress president Rahul Gandhi has ‘cogently’ raised the issues of Rafale, unemployment, farmers’ distress, among other problems faced by the country.
She feels that the Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s roadshow in Ghaziabad on Friday galvanised the party workers, which will help a great deal in improving her prospects this elections.
“Priyanka is a magnetic personality. Her appeal to voters in the roadshow has brightened our prospects here. The roadshow will also help us garner support from the women voters and also bind our party workers together,” Sharma adds.
Sharma’s family has been a great support, she avers. Her husband Deepak Sharma, a businessman, has taken two weeks off from work to help her on the campaign trail.
While she is campaigning in far-flung areas, her husband holds meetings with the public in urban areas. Her father Narendra Bhardwaj is the city unit president of the Congress.
“My in-laws and parents are very supportive. My agenda is clear. The city needs development as per the demand of its rising population. We need government schools, hospitals, employment for youth and facilities for farmers. Women security also tops the agenda. The recently released party manifesto has a lot to offer for every section,” she adds.
In the 2014 general polls, Congress fielded Bollywood actor Raj Babbar from Ghaziabad, but he was defeated by Gen Singh, who won by a margin of 5,67,260 votes. The BJP has renominated Singh this time, too. The SP has given its ticket to former MLA Suresh Bansal, who until recently was with the BSP.
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First Published: Apr 09, 2019 17:05 IST
