Zero Hour For Congress In Delhi
The Congress has succeeded in maintaining the tally of ‘zero’ after its second consecutive historic defeat in the Delhi assembly election.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) formed the government under the leadership of Arvind Kejriwal and despite pulling out all stops during campaigning, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) could make only marginal gains in its tally of seats.
On one hand, the electorate gave its stamp of approval to AAP’s focus on issues such as education, health, electricity and water. On the other, people emphatically foiled BJP’s attempts at communal polarisation. Issues like Shaheen Bagh, JNU, Jamia and India-Pakistan fell flat in this election. But in this triangular electoral contest, the worst outcome was reserved for the Congress, which began its journey at ‘0’ and ended it at ‘0’. Out of 66 candidates, only three managed to save their electoral guarantees from forfeiture. The party’s vote percentage, which had reached 26% in the Lok Sabha election, fell to just 4% in this election. There is heavy turmoil in the Congress after its decisive defeat in the Delhi assembly elections. Several Congress leaders are now openly questioning the party’s policy, strategy and ideology. After the electoral defeat, Delhi Congress President Subhash Chopra and Delhi Congress in-charge P.C. Chacko have resigned and their resignations have been accepted by Congress President Sonia Gandhi. However, even while departing, Chacko held deceased Congress leader Sheila Dikshit responsible for the loss in Delhi and avoided shouldering any responsibility for the defeat. Congress leaders of both old and young generations heavily criticised Chacko on social media after his statement. Some leaders even said that the Delhi Congress could never recover from factionalism due to Chacko’s flawed policies. According to sources, it was Chacko who suggested to the Congress leadership that it should not engage in very aggressive campaigning in Delhi since that could work in the BJP’s favour. This is why, despite the demands of several candidates, rallies and roadshows by Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi were cancelled at the last moment. Sources say that right in the middle of elections, Chacko had told Rahul Gandhi, during a rally in Chandni Chowk, that the Congress is not going to win even one seat in Delhi. After the disgraceful defeat in Delhi, several Congress leaders have been accorded the opportunity to say that the party has been unsuccessful in modelling its policy and ideology according to people’s expectations and with changing times. After Sharmistha Mukherjee, Sandeep Dikshit and Jyotiraditya Scindia, now Jairam Ramesh has raised such questions, which will take this argument forward in the coming days. Meanwhile, Delhi’s name has now been added to that of states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Odisha. If the Congress wants to recover its lost ground in Delhi again, it will not only have to bring back its traditional vote bank, which has migrated to the AAP, but also prepare a leadership like that shown by Sheila Dikshit.
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On one hand, the electorate gave its stamp of approval to AAP’s focus on issues such as education, health, electricity and water. On the other, people emphatically foiled BJP’s attempts at communal polarisation. Issues like Shaheen Bagh, JNU, Jamia and India-Pakistan fell flat in this election. But in this triangular electoral contest, the worst outcome was reserved for the Congress, which began its journey at ‘0’ and ended it at ‘0’. Out of 66 candidates, only three managed to save their electoral guarantees from forfeiture. The party’s vote percentage, which had reached 26% in the Lok Sabha election, fell to just 4% in this election. There is heavy turmoil in the Congress after its decisive defeat in the Delhi assembly elections. Several Congress leaders are now openly questioning the party’s policy, strategy and ideology. After the electoral defeat, Delhi Congress President Subhash Chopra and Delhi Congress in-charge P.C. Chacko have resigned and their resignations have been accepted by Congress President Sonia Gandhi. However, even while departing, Chacko held deceased Congress leader Sheila Dikshit responsible for the loss in Delhi and avoided shouldering any responsibility for the defeat. Congress leaders of both old and young generations heavily criticised Chacko on social media after his statement. Some leaders even said that the Delhi Congress could never recover from factionalism due to Chacko’s flawed policies. According to sources, it was Chacko who suggested to the Congress leadership that it should not engage in very aggressive campaigning in Delhi since that could work in the BJP’s favour. This is why, despite the demands of several candidates, rallies and roadshows by Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi were cancelled at the last moment. Sources say that right in the middle of elections, Chacko had told Rahul Gandhi, during a rally in Chandni Chowk, that the Congress is not going to win even one seat in Delhi. After the disgraceful defeat in Delhi, several Congress leaders have been accorded the opportunity to say that the party has been unsuccessful in modelling its policy and ideology according to people’s expectations and with changing times. After Sharmistha Mukherjee, Sandeep Dikshit and Jyotiraditya Scindia, now Jairam Ramesh has raised such questions, which will take this argument forward in the coming days. Meanwhile, Delhi’s name has now been added to that of states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Odisha. If the Congress wants to recover its lost ground in Delhi again, it will not only have to bring back its traditional vote bank, which has migrated to the AAP, but also prepare a leadership like that shown by Sheila Dikshit.
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