Congress to campaign with new vigour

NEW

DELHI: The failure of talks on an alliance with AAP in Delhi seems to have energised the city unit of Congress with its workers. Delhi Congress leaders said important meetings have been called at the state headquarters on Friday to finalise the election strategy and roll out the party’s campaign in full steam.


“We have called the meetings of various committees to look after the party’s campaign publicity, manifesto and media relations. The senior Delhi leadership will be going into a huddle on Friday and finalise our poll strategy,” Delhi Congress spokesperson Jitendra Singh Kochar told TOI. “The district presidents and chief of the frontal organisations have also been told to intensify the campaign and have regular corner meetings with the electorate.”

Amid talks of alliance, the state unit of the Congress, led by Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) president Sheila Dikshit, had held its ground and vehemently opposed any tie-up with AAP. Senior party leaders said that ground-level workers were also unhappy with the talks of alliance and their sentiments were shared with the central leadership. While uncertainty loomed for almost a month on how Congress would contest the elections, the party workers were forced to sit and watch, adversely affecting the campaign in the city.

Talking to TOI on Wednesday, Dikshit also said the uncertainty over the issue had depressed the party cadre. “Even during the past one month, we were not sitting idle and were regularly having meetings with our workers at the party office as well as in their respective areas. We also ran a huge campaign to propagate Rahul Gandhi’s promise to provide minimum income to poor under the NYAY scheme. But from Saturday, there will be a lot more activities,” a senior party leader said.