Two reverses later, Congress faces a do-or-die battle

NEW DELHI: The city's 'grand old party', virtually unassailable till a few years ago with three successive wins and a stalwart CM, will go into the February 7 elections fighting for survival. For Congress, relegated to a distant third in the December 2013 assembly elections, the rematch is a chance to recover ground ceded to Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party in unauthorized colonies, slums and even in the middle class.
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Fourteen months on, Congress still seems like a bit player on a stage dominated by BJP and AAP, but it will attempt to rise from the shadow of former chief minister Sheila Dikshit with a new leadership and line-up of candidates. The party had hoped to arrest its slide in April's Lok Sabha elections, but its vote-share dipped from 24% in December 2013 to 14% while AAP's rose from 29% to 33%.
With AAP's populist promises proving a vote-catcher in slums and unauthorized colonies, Congress too has shifted its campaign focus to direct people contact. It has gone through an organizational shake-up with former cabinet minister Arvinder Singh elevated to the post of Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president.

However, the post-Sheila Delhi Congress is still a faceless entity. While the search for a charismatic leader continues, the party has shown new energy and focus. For the first time, it has declared its first list of 24 candidates early to gear up for polls. The second list is likely to have many new faces. Overall, there could be more than 30 new faces in Congress' list of 70. President Pranab Mukherjee's daughter Sharmishtha Mukherjee is the party's choice from Greater Kailash constituency and Pratyush Kanth is likely to be fielded from Kirari.
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Congress has spread its campaign over three phases, focusing on highlighting the difference between 15 years of its governance, 49 days under AAP and seven months of BJP at the Centre. Besides hoardings, it is using street plays and bands to campaign. The party will focus on issues like power tariff, inflated water bills and women's safety.
For the economically disadvantaged, its traditional vote bank, Congress has a pro-poor agenda highlighting its performance in unauthorized colonies and other social security programmes while it plans to woo the middle class with infrastructure projects.