Ludhiana is my first, last choice: Tewari

LUDHIANA: Laying to rest speculation about his “interest” in the Chandigarh parliamentary constituency, union information and broadcasting minister and local MP Manish Tewari has asserted that Ludhiana would remain his first and last choice for the Lok Sabha elections.

The recent ouster of then railway minister and Chandigarh MP Pawan Kumar Bansal from the union cabinet — in the wake of the railway bribery scam — had fuelled speculation about Tewari being a contender for the Congress ticket from the high-profile constituency.

Tewari said, “Let me reiterate it in no ambiguous terms that Ludhiana is my first, second, third, fourth and nth choice for the 2014 parliamentary elections. I’m going to stay put in Ludhiana.”

The minister said since 2004, when he contested from Ludhiana for the first time and lost by 20,000 votes (to Akali candidate Sharanjit Singh Dhillon), he had been engrossed in work in his constituency. “I take pride in sharing that I have covered most of the villages in the constituency at least twice during nine years. Despite my engagements in Delhi as the national spokesman of the party and later as the information and broadcasting minister, I have tried to reciprocate the affection which the people of Ludhiana showered on me,” he said.

Tewari had defeated Akali nominee Gurcharan Singh Galib by over 1 lakh votes in the 2009 LS polls. Asked whether the Chandigarh seat was an option, he clarified: “No doubt I have been born and brought up in Chandigarh and have done all my education there, but for that matter, I have spent time in Delhi also. It does not mean that I will leave Ludhiana.”