Delhi Elections 2015: Congress hopes stalwarts will help it post a decent score

NEW DELHI: In what is a role reversal for the party which prides itself on its banner and symbol, Congress is fighting the Delhi polls as a collection of individuals, pegging hopes on old worthies coming good despite the perception of the contest being a BJP vs AAP clash.
Congress strategists see the elections as a challenge in which the pull of Congress with people is under severe stress given the high-voltage battle between Arvind Kejriwal’s outfit which has weaned away its support base and BJP which is in the middle of a honeymoon with voters.
The party recognizes that it has not recovered since December 2013 when the newbie ran away with its voters—lock, stock and ballot. And it is not being helped by the singular focus on CM aspirants Arvind Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi. An office-bearer engaged in poll management said a deepening impression of Congress being irrelevant to the clash could turn away voters even in seats where it is in the contest.
Given the uphill task at hand, Congress is banking heavily on its stalwarts who were swept away in the AAP wave of 2013. These were multiple-term MLAs with connect with voters of their constituencies and some of whom were also ministers in the Dikshit government. Its hoped they can pull back this time.
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“They have personal pull with voters,” said an AICC manager, “Congress, which used to be known by its symbol and name, is about individuals this time while AAP and BJP are fighting on their banners.”

Congress strategists see the elections as a challenge in which the pull of Congress with people is under severe stress given the high-voltage battle between Arvind Kejriwal’s outfit which has weaned away its support base and BJP which is in the middle of a honeymoon with voters. (TOI photo: Vipin)
Sources said the party has identified 28 seats where its candidates are strongly placed — among the top two. In the rest, the scene is too complicated to hazard a guess, they said, Congress cannot be ruled out in many other constituencies.
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Sources said the party has a modest expectation of a double-digit tally and a hung assembly. A high double-digit would ensure a split verdict while a minor improvement on the 2013 score of eight MLAs too could stop BJP or AAP short of the majority.
The fear is that another distant third spot in Delhi could eject it from public consciousness and that its best chance remains in emerging as kingmaker which would re-insert it in the power matrix and help it connect with voters again. The 2013 strategy of supporting AAP was based on the same thinking but failed because Kejriwal quit.