The Congress party’s appalling electoral run continued as it drew a blank at the recently concluded assembly elections in Delhi. Following the abject defeat, Delhi Congress chief, PC Chacko passed the buck for party’s poor performance to erstwhile Delhi chief minister late Sheila Dikshit.
PC Chacko, Congress on #DelhiResults2020: The downfall of the Congress party started in 2013 when Sheila ji was the CM. The emergence of a new party AAP took away the entire Congress vote bank. We could never get it back. It still remains with AAP. pic.twitter.com/aIpjSqz6bd
— ANI (@ANI) February 12, 2020
Chacko reasoned that the Congress party’s downfall started in 2013 when Sheila Dikshit was the chief minister. Chacko added that the emergence of a new party AAP took away Congress’ vote back and it still remains with it.
However, senior Congress leader Milind Deora expressed his disapproval with PC Chacko’s assertions. Extolling Sheila Dikshit, Deora said that she was an exceptional politician and administrator, adding that under her Delhi was transformed and Congress became stronger than ever. Deora stated that it is inappropriate to shift the blame on her after her death.
Sheila Dikshit ji was a remarkable politician & administrator. During her tenure as Chief Minister, Delhi was transformed & Congress was stronger than ever.
Unfortunate to see her being blamed after her death. She dedicated her life to @INCIndia & the people of Delhi https://t.co/XwQPlHE6cw
— Milind Deora मिलिंद देवरा (@milinddeora) February 12, 2020
Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera too expressed his disagreement with holding Sheila Dikshit responsible for Congress’ abysmal performance in Delhi assembly elections. To reinforce his point, Khera pulled up vote-share figures Congress had with and without the leadership of Sheila Dikshit. In 2013, when Congress lost, it had a vote-share of 24.55 per cent. Vote-share in 2015 slipped to 9.7 per cent when Sheila Dikshit was not involved and in 2019, under the leadership of Sheila Dikshit, Congress’ vote-share again rose to 22.46 per cent.
Just a data point. In 2013, when we lost, @INCIndia vote share in Delhi was 24.55%. Sheila ji was not involved in 2015, when the vote share slipped to 9.7%. In 2019, when she was back in charge, the vote share came up to 22.46%. https://t.co/MvwHouRILh
— Pawan Khera (@Pawankhera) February 12, 2020
It may be noted that Sheila Dikshit is widely recognised as a good administrator, and her defeat in 2013 is seen as the result of country-wide protests against corruptions in the UPA government at the centre. Arvind Kejriwal led AAP had ridden this anti-corruption wave to attain power at that time.
Following the poll debacle in Delhi yesterday, various Congress leaders came out questioning the party’s strategy that led to an embarrassing defeat for the second time in the row. However, some Congress leaders were more occupied in expressing their happiness over BJP’s defeat in the Delhi polls. Former union minister P Chidambaram had hailed AAP’s victory as “defeat of bluff and bluster”. This did not sit well with the Delhi Mahila Congress President Sharmistha Mukherjee who trenchantly asked if the party had farmed out the task of defeating BJP to other parties. Mukherjee questioned Chidambaram for gloating over BJP’s defeat while being unconcerned about its own poll drubbing.
Amidst severe criticism, Delhi Congress chief PC Chacko has tendered his resignation following disastrous assembly elections for the Congress party.
दिल्ली के कांग्रेस प्रभारी पी.सी. चाको ने दिया इस्तीफा। pic.twitter.com/eGp1w6ZBPB
— ANI_HindiNews (@AHindinews) February 12, 2020
In the 70-member assembly, Congress could not open its account, failing miserably in sending even a single legislator to the Delhi Assembly. Congress’ tally stood at zero as it scored back-to-back ducks in the Delhi assembly elections.
