BJP’s Kejriwal challenger Nupur Sharma is not new to fights

NEW DELHI: To be pitted against fancied candidates in difficult seats is often considered the blood sacrifice a political party demands of some of its members, a necessary entre to circles of favour. Sushma Swaraj in Bellary, and Smriti Irani in Amethi are just a couple of examples of leaders who signed up for impossible fights and were rewarded for their gumption. In the case of Nupur Sharma, Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) office bearer who is the BJP candidate from the New Delhi seat, the impossible fight has been sought by her.

“Nupur’s parents were moving to Noida a couple of years ago, and she refused to move away from New Delhi constituency, just because she wanted to contest from this seat as a local,” says Anurag Thakur, MP and BJYM chief.

Others suggest, rather less charitably, that the offer was on the plate for the 2013 polls as well, but between Sheila Dikshit and Arvind Kejriwal, Sharma didn’t see the contest adding anything to her profile. Vijender Gupta was made to contest that time round.

Sharma, 30, an LLM holder from the London School of Economics, comes from a family of diplomats and businessmen, and had been clear from very early on that she would enter politics and public life. She contested and won the Delhi University Student Union elections in 2008, representing the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), when the three other seats went to the Congress’ student wing NSUI.