Eroded base worries Congress MPs ahead of Lok Sabha elections

NEW DELHI: With Aam Aadmi Party focusing on the Lok Sabha elections, and Delhi polls proving indecisive, the seven Congress MPs have much to worry about. The party’s support base has been significantly eroded and AAP is readying for a combat in 2014. The strength of Congress MLAs has been reduced to a mere 8 seats from 43, and a vote share of just over 24.5% reduced by 15% from 2008. The MPs who had banked on the MLA network to reinforce their vote banks and campaign strategies are now on a weak wicket.

As BJP holds the reins in the corporations, Congress can’t use its leadership in the wards to shore up its strength. Add to this, the anti-incumbency wave and anger over inflation and corruption. The irretrievable loss of vote banks is bothering the party, which is faced with a mammoth task of scripting a speedy revival.

Meanwhile, the vanquished have resorted to blame game. A day after the poll verdict outgoing chief minister Sheila Dikshit didn’t leave any opportunity to point out the lack of support from the party. Other ousted MLAs have followed suit. The churning within Congress and a possibility of fresh elections in Delhi, along with the Lok Sabha polls, have raised the stakes for the incumbent Congress MPs.

There are 10 assembly constituencies in each parliamentary constituency. For instance , in west, south and New Delhi parliamentary constituencies, Congress has no MLA. West Delhi MP Mahabal Mishra’s son Vinay Mishra, who fought for the first time from Palam constituency, also came a cropper. The south Delhi parliamentary constituency was known to be former MP Sajjan Kumar’s stronghold with the Jat and rural and urban village voters seen as dedicated Congress voters. Currently, Sajjan Kumar’s brother Ramesh Kumar is the MP from here. But in the assembly polls, Sajjan Kumar’s son Jagparvesh lost in Sangam Vihar to AAP.

In the New Delhi parliamentary constituency, MP Ajay Maken also faces a tough challenge on his turf with AAP denting the urban middle class votebank. Three-time CM Sheila Dikshit faced a crushing defeat at the hands of Arvind Kejriwal in New Delhi. Few sitting MLAs, combined with the plunging morale of the losers, Maken has much ground to cover to bridge the disconnect with the voters.

Sheila Dikshit’s son Sandeep Dikshit, who is two-time east Delhi MP, faces his toughest challenge as all the heavyweights, including three to four time Congress MLAs, have lost. This seat was chosen for Dikshit considering it was seen to be a Congress stronghold. Now, only two Congress MLAs Arvinder Singh Lovely from Gandhi Nagar and Asif Mohd from Okhla have been selected.

Union minister Kapil Sibal who has ridden to power twice from Chandni Chowk parliamentary constituency has just two MLAs behind him, Haroon Yusuf from Ballimaran and Prahlad Singh Sawhney from Chandni Chowk. The Muslim vote is decisive there and going by the recent results, Congress has managed to keep its hold.

Congress state president and northeast delhi MP J P Agarwal too has a lot of worries. The two winning MLAs include Mateen Ahmad from Seelampur and Hasan Ahmad from Mustafabad. Both are minority-dominated areas.