New Delhi: It seems nothing is going right for the Congress party as far as the Delhi Assembly elections are concerned.
The Congress is not only perceived to be losing the allegiance of traditional vote-banks, it is also facing severe internal dissension on the leadership issue. The party is struggling to douse the fire of factionalism in the state unit.
The state unit of party is clearly divided over the issue relating to the CM candidature of Ajay Maken who, as the head of the election campaign committee, leads the race for the top post in case Congress forms the government. Congress party election jingles on FM radio also projects Maken as the CM candidate, but other party leaders are yet to swallow the bait.
Kiran Walia, senior Congress leader and party candidate from New Delhi Assembly constituency, has made it clear that Ajay Maken is not the CM candidate of the party in Assembly elections.
Walia is considered to be very close to former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit who is said to be unhappy with her sidelining in Delhi's politics.
Talking to India TV Digital, Kiran Walia said, “let me make one thing very clear. Ajay Maken is not the CM candidate of Congress.”
“In fact, there is no tradition of projecting a CM candidate ahead of elections in Congress party. Even Shela Dikshit was not projected as CM candidate.”
On the last day of the election campaign, Kiran Walia, known as a trusted confidante of former CM Sheila Dikshit, was visiting a slum in her New Delhi Assembly constituency.
When she noticed that India TV Digital team was also there, Walia asked residents to explain what l the Congress party had done for poor people during its 15-year-long rule.
When she was reminded that it was a direct contest between BJP and AAP, and that Congress was nowhere in the running, Walia vehemently disagreed and said, “This is only media's perception. Why don't you speak to people here? They understand what Congress has done for them. It's the media alone that doesn't want to understand.”
Walia is giving a fight to AAP's CM candidate Arvind Kejriwal who had, in a big upset, trounced three-time Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit from the same New Delhi Assembly constituency by a huge margin of 25,800+ votes.
So how confident is she regarding her victory against Kejriwal?
“I am fully confident of my victory in these elections. Wait for the results,” quipped Walia.
When asked to comment on the reported shift of Congress party's traditional voters to AAP, Walia said, “there is no truth in these reports, people know it very well that it's only Congress that has stood by poor section of the society.”
What do the people of the slum she visited think of her chances in these elections?
“Politicians visit us during elections only. They never come here after winning elections,” said an angry young girl who did not want to reveal her name.
Another woman of the slum said, “we'll vote for AAP but we can't say it openly.”
The most interesting part was that a man, who was telling Kiran Walia that the slum was a traditional bastion of Congress and that they will all vote for her, completely changed his tack while speaking to India TV Digital.
“This slum will overwhelmingly vote for AAP. Congress stands no chance in this constituency,” he asserted on the condition of anonymity.
Will Kiran Walia now really wake up and start reading the writing on the wall?
(With Dinesh Kandpal)
