Five years after drawing a blank in the Assembly polls, the Congress is banking on a mix of young and experienced candidates and the “good works” of the Sheila Dikshit government to revive its fortunes in next month”s election.
For the first time, the party has firmed up an alliance in Delhi with Lalu Prasad Yadav”s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) which will contest on four assembly seats — Burari, Kirari, Uttam Nagar and Palam — that have a sizeable Poorvanchali population.
Delhi Congress chief Subhash Chopra said he was confident that his party would defeat the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party that has “ruined” the national capital.
Polling for the assembly elections will be held on February 8 and the results will be declared on February 11.
“We are confident of winning the hearts of the people and the elections. We will go to people telling them how Congress developed Delhi in its 15 year regime and made it a green city which has been ruined in the past five to six years,” Chopra told PTI.
The Congress has fielded 30 first-timers for the assembly elections. It has also given tickets to five ministers of Sheila Dikshit government — Krishna Tirath, Ashok Kumar Walia, Narendar Nath, Arvinder Singh Lovely and Haroon Yusuf. It has also nominated municipal councillors and former legislators.
While Shivani Chopra, the daughter of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) chief, will make debut from her father”s traditional stronghold Kalkaji, former minister Yoganand Shastri”s daughter Priyanka Singh will try her luck from R K Puram.
Lovely and Yusuf will contest from Gandhi Nagar and Ballimaran assembly constituencies respectively. The Party has also fielded two ex-MLAs of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party — Alka Lamba from Chandni Chowk and Adarsh Shastri, grandson of former prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, from Dwarka.
Romesh Sabharwal, the former Delhi president of Congress” student wing NSUI, has been pitted against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, while Laxman Rawat will face Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Patparganj seat.
Last week, the Congress launched its officials theme song — ”Phir se Congress wali Delhi” and also a video to go with it.
Subhash Chopra said through the theme song, the party will tell the people about “prosperous Delhi” during the 15-year tenure of the Sheila Dikshit government.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and senior leaders including late Sheila Dikshit feature in the song which shows the work done by the party-led government from 1998 to 2013 in the national capital.
The party has promised to provide 30 paise cashback for each litre of water saved by Delhi residents and 20,000 litres of water a month free if it is voted to power.
