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The Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been vitriolic in its attack on the Congress’s low key electoral campaign in the Delhi Assembly polls, particularly towards the last-minute cancellation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s appearance at an electoral rally here. The BJP alleges Sheila Dikshit-led Delhi government has almost conceded defeat and this explains the non-interest from star Congress campaigners.
This is being contested by the Congress camp. Shakeel Ahmed, the party’s Delhi in-charge, says not only have four chief ministers of Congress-ruled states campaigned in the capital, President Pranab Mukherjee’s daughter Sharmishtha Mukherjee has also been part of four electoral rallies here.
In the national capital, the BJP’s campaign in the city was presided over by its star campaigner Narendra Modi as well as Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, L K Advani.
Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi’s rally at Mangolpuri on October 28 had been in the news for “poor attendance”, with Chief Minister Dikshit appealing to the crowd to remain seated. Since then, the party has blamed the administration for adding to public woes.
Defending the party’s campaign strategy Shakeel Ahmed says, “All will be clear on December 8. We consciously chose to field our star campaigners constituency-wise, unlike the BJP’s style under Narendra Modi of hawai firing. Our strategy is to go for carpet bombing---this helps in a direct reach with the people. Not all attend massive rallies, unlike what the BJP might think. Ours is a more effective strategy.”
The Congress’s star campaigners here include chief ministers Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Virbhadra Singh, Vijay Bahuguna and Oomen Chandy. Union ministers Ghulam Nabi Azad, Rehman Khan, Salman Khurshid, Kapil Sibal, Harish Rawat also addressed meetings, as did Congress member of Parliament (MP) and cricketer Azharuddin, Bollywood star Raj Babbar and former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh.
On the fact that Congress President Sonia Gandhi addressed just one rally, while Rahul Gandhi addressed two, a senior Congress leader said, “Delhi, you must realise is a small state---it has only 70 seats and seven MPs. Even Chhattisgarh has many more. So, our key campaigners had to focus on other states as well.” However he acknowledged cancellation of the prime minister’s scheduled rally at Harinagar on November 30 had resulted in a big loss to the local unit. Announcing the cancellation, the Prime Minister’s Office had said Singh was unable to attend the rally due to the visit of the Japanese emperor and empress.
What most Congress leaders are leaving unsaid is addresses by the Prime Minister and Sonia Gandhi might lead to the scams during the United Progressive Alliance government’s term and the anti-incumbency effect rubbing off on the Delhi Assembly elections, something the party would want to avoid at all cost.
The party has been “questioning” what it says is partial media coverage. It alleges while all meetings of Narendra Modi are covered, addresses by Congress chief ministers are ignored.
