Alliance works for Manish Tewari, but Congress divided

It is 8.30 pm and the weather has cooled down a bit. In an open ground in Dhanas, a resettlement colony near Chandigarh's Sector 25, a stage has been set up. It is a show of unity -- Congress, Aam Aadmi Party and Samajwadi Party leaders are sitting side by side and patiently waiting for their candidate, Congress spokesperson and former minister Manish Tewari.

As soon as he enters the ground, two youths approach him and carry him on their shoulders with party workers thronging to garland him. By the time he reaches the stage, the garlands are almost covering half his face. He gets on the stage and local leaders begin their speeches. Tewari keeps it short as he is on a clock. He has just wrapped up a rally with Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and has to catch up on the day's campaign schedule.

"Dakshin Bharat mein BJP saaf hai, uttar Bharat mein BJP half hai. They are not crossing 150. INDIA bloc is forming the next government," he says adding, "When I say we will give free 200 units of power to any family with an income below ₹20,000 per month, BJP says I have lost my mental balance. But I am not taking out money from their pockets. It is government's money that we will use." Tewari is running a high-pitched campaign with the help of the Congress and AAP cadres.

BJP is battling an obvious anti-incumbency. Aware of this, the party has replaced two-term MP from Chandigarh, Kirron Kher, with trusted foot soldier Sanjay Tandon, who is the son of former minister and Chhattisgarh governor Balram Dass Tandon. Kirron Kher's margin of victory had declined -- in 2014, she won by a margin of 69,642 votes which reduced to 46,970 votes in 2019.

BJP has now unveiled a "Sankalp Patra" with 68 promises. The main promise is quarterly meetings of the people and Chandigarh administration with the MP -- a clear indication that the party is aware of the asks of people. Parkash Kaur, a student counsellor in a private school, says, "We didn't know who the MP was for quite some time and this is new for Chandigarh because we have had Pawan Bansal representing us. He was a known face. But over the last 10 years, specifically 5 years, there were other MPs who raised the issues of Chandigarh but not Kirron Kher."

While campaigning, Tandon promises a Metro for Chandigarh and cashless medical facility for relatives of police personnel. He is also banking on the benefits of Modi government's schemes. He challenges Tewari's record and says he is known to change a constituency every five years and would not nurture Chandigarh (Tewari represented Ludhiana from 2009-14 and Anandpur Sahib 2019-24).

Apart from the local issues like removal of Dadumajra landfill site and new flyovers for traffic management, the factor weighing on people's mind is the way Chandigarh mayoral elections were rigged and how it took the Supreme Court's intervention for the AAP-Congress candidate to be declared the winner. "BJP's strong-arm tactics cannot work everywhere. People are now looking for change," says Prateek Tandon, a shopkeeper in Sector 17 market.

Alliance chemistry may be working for Tewari, but Congress is a divided house in Chandigarh. Three-term Chandigarh MP Pawan Bansal has not been campaigning for Tewari. In fact, he had not been seen at any party function since April 13 when Congress declared Tewari as the party's candidate. His first public appearance in Chandigarh finally came on Sunday at the rally of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.