Delhi elections 2015: Congress voters have come back after a fling with AAP, says Ajay Maken

Former Union minister Ajay Maken was brought to Delhi's electoral politics and made campaign committee chairman to bolster Congress's chances in this election. The two-time MP, who is contesting assembly polls after a gap of 10 years, tells TOI that Congress is not a spent force in Delhi as its traditional supporters have returned to the fold after trying out AAP, and this election is again going to be a fight between Congress and BJP.

This election is being seen as a direct fight between BJP and AAP, why will people choose Congress?

First of all, this perception is wrong that it is a two-party fight; people don't see the situation that way. As to why they should vote for us, they have seen these parties in the past one year and the ground situation has deteriorated. Congress has a number of experienced hands who can deliver and have a clean track record. BJP and AAP don't.

There is a view that Congress is losing political relevance...

This view is absolutely wrong. Even in a multi-cornered contest like the 2013 assembly polls we had 24% of votes. A party getting that much vote share cannot be dismissed. Congress is very much a force to look out for. It is a 130 years old party and cannot be written off after losing one election.

Who is your main rival, BJP or AAP? If there's another hung verdict, will you again offer support to AAP?

It is a triangular contest, but traditionally BJP has been our main contender and remains so. In case of a hung assembly we will not support AAP. We would like to go for fresh elections. We gave outside support to AAP last time but they ran away. Later, they sent us feelers for support to form a government but we refused, that is why these elections are taking place. So, if we support AAP now, how will we justify not supporting them earlier?

Congress ran Delhi for 15 years, what went wrong in 2013?

Congress faced enormous anti-incumbency arising from 15 years of governing Delhi and 10 years at the Centre. The other reason was aggressive attacks by AAP and BJP. Both parties made tall promises on everything from black money to rebate on electricity tariff, free water etc. The third factor was Anna Hazare's charges directed at Congress.
Didn't Congress underestimate AAP last time? Why is the party still in denial about AAP's impact on its vote banks?

I agree we underestimated AAP. It got our traditional voters into its fold through tall promises. We strongly feel this is not the case now because it failed to deliver. We are not in denial about AAP but we say BJP is our main rival because it has not got our traditional votes. Our traditional voters have come back to us now and that is why our main contest is with BJP.

Why did Congress voters leave the party, and why is the party struggling to gain lost ground?

It is not true that Congress is struggling to get its voters back. On February 10 you will see that the traditional Congress voter has come back. As to why they left us, we did a lot of work in 15 years but BJP and AAP promised them so much that people decided to give them a try.

Congress suddenly brought you in as Delhi campaign committee chief and then got you to contest the assembly election. Are you Congress' face for Delhi and its CM candidate?

I don't know my future role. I do what the party asks me to do. Having said that, this is nothing new for Congress or in politics. Parties move people from the Centre to the state and vice versa. Also, I am not new to Delhi. I have contested for MLA twice and have been MP for two terms. I also happened to be the urban development minister and then minister of state in the home ministry. Delhi's land and law and order come under these ministries, hence I was never away from the city. Yes, I am here as campaign committee chief and in that sense I am leading the campaign. I am also contesting the polls.