Tactical Congress Keeps AAP & BJP Guessing in Delhi Elections
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi votes in Delhi elections Image credit INC
Delhi Votes to Test Poll Brands in Keen Contest
By Manish Anand
New Delhi, February 5: Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi voted early on Wednesday in the Delhi Assembly elections. Gandhi is flying out of Delhi to speak to a group of people in Patna on Wednesday on a key political project that he is overseeing.
Gandhi made splashing entry into the Delhi electioneering with frontal attacks on his ally in the Opposition camp and former chief minister of the city Arvind Kejriwal. The Congress leader showed a sea of garbage in parts of Delhi through a short video documentary.
He exited the scene to fuel speculations. To dismay of the Delhi Congress leaders, Gandhi was more excited about his Patna and Madhya Pradesh outreach.
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But he returned to launch serious attacks on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Gandhi even boarded the “Sheeshmahal and Sharab Ghotala” poll planks of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). His sister, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, also came out in the last couple of days to canvas for a select group of candidates.
On the eve of the polling, the BJP and the AAP were sizing up the Congress tactics in Delhi elections. Seven months ago, the AAP and the Congress had pre-poll seat-sharing agreement for the Lok Sabha elections.
“The Congress as a part of a strategy singled out a dozen Assembly seats to focus. We are in serious contest on some of these seats,” a senior Congress functionary told The Raisina Hills.
Congress Rajya Sabha MP Imran Pratapgarhi stormed the Delhi Assembly elections, pulling strong crowds, with his electioneering blitz. He swept through the Muslim dominated Assembly seats with messaging that the AAP was nowhere to be seen when the Delhi riots unfolded and also when the people sat on street (Shaheen Bagh) to protest.
While the top leadership of the Congress was selective in campaigning, Pratapgarhi was leading the charge on the ground. His rock star electioneering brought cheers on faces of the Congress candidates.
The Congress roots in Delhi are deep even while the party’s footprints appear to have been erased by Kejriwal. In Chandni Chowk, the AAP candidate is Purandeep Singh Sahni, son of the Congress local veteran Pralhad Singh Sawney. He’s pitted against the Congress nominee Mudit Agarwal, who is son of ex-MP Jaiprakash Agarwal.
The AAP has fielded several candidates with the Congress pedigree. The AAP’s long-standing worries has been about the Congress repeating the Telangana feat in Delhi.
After scripting politically most weird division of Andhra Pradesh, the Congress was eclipsed by the maverick K. Chandrashekhar Rao of the Telangana Congress Party (TRS) in the newly carved out state. But a decade later, the Congress stormed back into the power, almost rising like a phoenix. But this rise is not happening in 2025 in Delhi, the street affirms.
“The apparent strategy of the Congress is to hold on to the vote share of the last elections and add some more to make a base for the next elections. But the Congress candidates are posing serious challenges to even BJP nominees on some seats,” said a senior functionary from the ranks of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS).
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