Delhi election 2015: Congress faces worst crisis; tries hard to crawl back

NEW DELHI: The February 7 polls will not just be about numbers and vote share for the Congress but decisive about its future in the city the party ruled for 15 years. Today, the party faces its worst crisis as it struggles to even emerge as the lead opposition in the Delhi assembly. This time round, the grand old party is going all out to woo the underprivileged with a vast pro-poor agenda and the promise of a sensitive model city to the middle class and the youth.

Congress is banking on its candidates and their public connect to win seats and that's why the campaign had many members projected as a face of the party. In this election, where the classes and the masses are closely following issues, candidates and political ideologies, Congress is hoping to break the ice with voters of varied sections to steer a revival on the development plank promising right to shelter, cheaper power and regular jobs to the poor and the assurance of stability to the middle class.

In its worst rout at the hands of AAP in December 2013 polls, Congress was reduced to a poor eight seats from a robust majority government backed by 42 sitting MLAs and led by three-time chief minister Sheila Dikshit. The party had hoped to arrest its slide in April's Lok Sabha election, but its vote share dipped from 24% in December 2013 to 15%, while AAP's rose from 29% to 33%.

For Congress the real challenge has been to gain voter attention and support on ground ceded to AAP in unauthorized colonies, slums and the middle class. Fourteen months on, the party still seems like a bit player on a stage dominated by BJP and AAP.

The party clearly made these elections the showcase platform to break away from its past. Dikshit, who was the face of the party till 2013, has fast receded into its past. What one saw this time was the emergence of a new leadership line-up with former Union minister and AICC general secretary Ajay Maken launched on the city's electoral ground as a candidate and poll campaign committee chief.

To boost its grassroots connect, the party put former Delhi minister Arvinder Singh in charge of the revival exercise as Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president.