Delhi elections 2015: Dismantling of grassroots panels cost us polls, says Congress

NEW DELHI: Staring at decimation in Delhi with all exit polls predicting a doomsday scenario for the Congress, party is blaming lack of organisation at the grassroots.

Congress had disbanded all its committees and grassroots panels in Delhi last year. Speaking to ET, Congress’ Delhi incharge PC Chacko said, “The problem has been that Delhi state unit didn’t have an organisation. The entire structure was disbanded after parliamentary elections. Maybe it was done because we will soon have organisational polls. But it is inexplicable because we knew Delhi would go for elections in early 2015. We did not have district or block committees. We had to work with temporary arrangements.”

Congress did not have division, district and block level committees. The party appointed 14 former MPs from outside Delhi to oversee each division. These senior leaders were being helped by 70 former MLAs from different states. Congress’ internal assessment showed that AAP had made a dent in its traditional votebanks – Muslims, Dalits and the youth. A senior Congress leader said, “We are hoping for a hung verdict. If we get a year’s time we can get the party back in shape in Delhi. The cadres are enthused after the response Rahul Gandhi ji’s roadshows have received.”

Delhi state unit has faced factionalism for almost a decade. Congress’ central leadership had ways tried to keep a check on Sheila Dikshit by appointing somebody from anti-Sheila camp as the state unit chief. The animosity between Dikshit and then state unit chief J P Agarwal had even played out openly in meetings chaired by Rahul Gandhi. Chacko, however, tried to get all the big guns on board in Delhi. In the run up to polls, Chacko involved Agarwal, Dikshit and all former MPs in campaigning. This strategy is now being seen as too little too late.

Chacko said, “We need to start from the ground in Delhi.” The senior leader, however, refused to put any blame on Gandhi. “Rahul Gandhi could have only started campaigning earlier in Delhi if there was organisation on the ground. How could he have started earlier if there was no ground level framework. We are still expecting 16 seats.

We are strong in 25 seats,” he said. Most of the exit polls show a 0-2 seat tally for the Congress. The party’s own assessment shows that it has lost ground even after December 2013 elections, when it had notched an all-time low tally of eight seats.