GHAZIABAD: The Congress committee has announced Dolly Sharma as its Lok Sabha candidate from Ghaziabad. Sharma (34), daughter of Congress city president Narendra Bhardwaj, figured on the fifth list of 56 candidates issued by the party late on Monday night.Sharma, an MBA from IMS College in Noida, ran an online company dealing with Indian ethnic wear until she joined politics full-time over an year ago. She contested the Ghaziabad mayor elections in 2017 and garnered 1.19 lakh votes, losing to the BJP’s Asha Sharma by a margin of 1.63 lakh votes.Asked about her campaign, Sharma said she would focus on local issues. “In the past two terms, the MPs from here were hardly seen in their constituencies. The Congress has selected a local candidate who was born and brought up here. Ghaziabad has not been given the infrastructure it deserves. There is just one government hospital, while no new college has been opened in the past decade. The law and order situation has deteriorated. I will highlight all these issues in my campaign.”Sharma’s stress on “local candidate” assumes significance against the backdrop of protests within the Congress in neighbouring Gautam Budh Nagar over the nomination of Arvind Singh, who has been touted as an “outsider”. Congress workers in G B Nagar have also pointed out that Arvind Singh’s family has active members of the BJP in it.Congress member Raghuraj Singh, who claimed to have been with the party for almost three decades, had openly said on Monday he would not support Arvind. He had said the party high command had failed to read the pulse of the people and given the ticket to a functionary whose family has links with the BJP and BSP. “This candidate is not even aware of the Congress culture and has no network. I will not support him,” he had said.In her attack against the BJP, Sharma claimed on Tuesday that current MP General (retd) VK Singh has been “missing” from his constituency since the 2014 Lok Sabha elections Sources within the Congress said there were several names doing the rounds for the candidature. Among them, the name of former MLA Surendra Prakash Goel (73) was at the forefront, the sources said. A group of party workers and senior leaders had expressed confidence that Goel would be named the candidate from Ghaziabad. Some had even said it was just a matter of time that a formal announcement would be made in this regard.Asked about the decision to nominate Sharma, Ghaziabad Congress president Harendra Kasana said: “It happens all the time. Many names are considered, but it is the party high command that takes the final decision. The candidate will have our full support and we will ensure her victory in the election.”Sharma’s father and Congress city president Narendra Bhardwaj said the poll would be a two-pronged fight between the BJP and Congress this time. “It is the history of Ghaziabad. Either we have won or come second,” he added.On the basis of Sharma’s selection, Bhardwaj said the party had seen her dedication and the work done by her. “She stood second in the mayor election and since then, she has been standing up for the people of Ghaziabad. She has been relentlessly holding up meetings and lending voice to people’s cause,” Bhardwaj added.

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