Faction-ridden Congress trying to put up a brave front in Delhi elections

High command's decision to field Ajay Maken as party's face in the capital has ruffled a few feathers

The Congress, faced with the formidable task of standing up to the challenge posed by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and a resurgent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is trying to salvage the party from a possible washout in the capital.  

The party high command’s decision to field Ajay Maken as its face has reportedly angered many in the city unit. Till then, Delhi chief Arvinder Singh Lovely was the face of party. The party has not been able to finalise candidates for key constituencies. The party was considering Kiran Walia for the New Delhi seat against AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal. According to sources, she is not in favour of contesting that seat.

Sources indicated when former chief minister Sheila Dikshit declared that she wouldn’t be contesting, Congress President Sonia Gandhi prevailed upon Maken to be the party’s face.

Earlier, Maken, chief of the campaign committee, had expressed unwillingness to contest the Assembly elections or fight against Kejriwal in New Delhi. Dikshit had suggested  Maken should contest against Kejriwal.

Maken’s projection of himself as the tallest leader in the Delhi Congress with “21 years of experience” has not gone down well in the party.

“Leaders like Lovely and Haroon Yusuf have been trying to recover lost ground for the past seven months and now Maken has been planted from the top. It’s ironic that Rahul Gandhi talks of encouraging local leadership but when it comes to the crunch, leaders are foisted from the top,” said a Delhi Congress leader.

A leader said it would be an achievement if the party managed to hold on to its earlier tally of eight seats.

Cong’s second list out

The Congress on Wednesday released its second list of 25 candidates, which included former Union minister Ajay Maken from Sadar Bazar.

With this, the party has announced 49 names and has stopped short of announcing its choice for the New Delhi constituency. It has fielded MP Mahabal Mishra (Dwarka) and former Delhi Assembly Speaker Yoganand Shastri (Malviya Nagar).

Chaudhary Prem Singh has been fielded from Ambedkar Nagar seat. Former MLAs Harishankar Gupta, Anil Bhardwaj and Surender Pal Singh will contest from Wazirpur, Trinagar and Timarpur, respectively. Independent MLA, who joined the Congress recently, Ramveer Shokeen’s wife Rita Shokeen has been given a ticket from Mundka.