Congress pulls out all stops for Delhi

It has been billed as a bi-polar contest between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) but the out-of-favour Congress is attempting to get itself counted and noticed in the high-stake battle for the Delhi Assembly.

The party is pulling out all stops and has decided to have all its ‘big guns’ campaign for the upcoming polls. Apart from Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Vice-President Rahul Gandhi addressing rallies, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is slated to address rallies in the capital. Congress chief ministers have also been roped in to boost the prospects of the party that otherwise look bleak. Included among the six chief ministers are Karnataka’s K Siddaramaiah, Oommen Chandy from Kerala, Assam CM Tarun Gogoi and Uttarakhand CM Harish Rawat. The Congress is also banking on its “star power” to bring in crowds; Khushboo, Nagma, Raj Babbar and even the Bollywood diva Rekha, a Rajya Sabha MP, could make an appearance at public meetings.  

To distinguish itself from the BJP and AAP, the party is hopeful that its 15-year stint and development will strike a chord with the masses; its catchphrase being “tried and tested”. While AAP has coined the slogan “Paanch saal Kejriwal”, the Congress is harping on “Congress ke bina, Dilli adhoori”(Delhi without Congress is incomplete). Former CM Sheila Dikshit, whose uninterrupted stint in power for three terms, was brought to an end in 2013, with the Congress being decimated, is also scheduled to address as many as 50 meetings. Congress AICC in-charge PC Chacko has already declared Dikshit as a “star campaigner” for the party.

Several candidates say insiders have already evinced interest in having the former chief minister address meetings in their constituencies.

‘The campaigning will pick up and the peak period will be between January 25 and February 5, when we will be holding the majority of the rallies and meetings,” said a senior Congress leader. A road show is also on the cards but no details are available as of now.   

The party is keen to capture the voters’ mindspace, given the fact that critics have been writing the party off ever since it was reduced to a paltry eight seats.

“Our attempt will be to project ourselves as a tried and tested alternative. The public has already seen 49 days of chaotic AAP rule and virtually eight months of Central rule -- thereby BJP rule. The Congress by contrast has a stellar record of 15 years of development in Delhi,” added the leader, who is involved in a campaign strategy. To ensure that the party’s overall organisational coordination works smoothly, PCC chief Arvinder Singh Lovely, who was already given a ticket was asked not to contest so that he could focus his energies on campaigning. Therefore, party posters have Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Lovely’s pictures on them.  

Ajay Maken, who is not just the Congress’ Delhi campaign in-charge but the AICC Communication chief, is giving shape to the party’s media strategy. The Congress, which in other polls, has generally been “reactive” has decided on being “proactive”. The party recently released a booklet on “U-turn Kejriwal” and had sometime ago released one on U-turns of the BJP-led government; the Congress in the days to come is likely to take the attack to both the BJP and AAP camps on a daily basis.

Ajay Maken on Tuesday accepted AAP chief Kejriwal’s open challenge for a public debate – should Kiran Bedi too accede, then these polls would be unlike any other election before.