As campaigning for the Delhi Assembly election enters the crucial last week, the Congress denied that it had thrown in the towel by not being visible on the campaign trail.
“No, it's not true. Our candidates and workers are very much there in the field and going door to door,” said All India Congress Committee in-charge for Delhi P.C. Chacko.
Star campaigners
He said the party's star campaigners, including party chief Sonia Gandhi, will join the action from February 1. “We want our campaigning to climax on the last day... that's how we have planned it,” he said.
“Both the BJP and AAP are good at marketing and have the resources to do so. The Delhi government had budgeted ₹500 crore for publicity. But I believe voters are intelligent and choose wisely,” Congress' Delhi in-charge said, adding, “I am sure we will be an important player in Delhi.”
Mr. Chacko said the schedule for star campaigners, including Chief Ministers of Congress-ruled States, would be finalised over the weekend.
While former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will address public meetings and are likely to hold roadshows, Ms. Gandhi may address a public rally.
According to the list submitted to the Election Commission of India, the party's star campaigners include not only Chief Ministers of Congress-ruled States like Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan but also former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Crowd-pullers such as Shatrughan Sinha, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Sachin Pilot and Jyotiraditya Scindia are also part of the list.
However, the Congress has not held a single big public meeting until now. Once the ruling party for an uninterrupted 15 years, the party has faced flak for not trying to aggressively reclaim lost ground.
Missing in action
Though the party has showcased the development work done during late Sheila Dikshit's 15-year tenure as Delhi Chief Minister, her son and former Congress Lok Sabha member Sandeep Dikshit is conspicuous by his absence.
He is neither part of star campaigners nor seen at any ground campaign though he has released a series of videos titled 'Kaam Ki Baat' attacking the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government on issues such as health and education.
Mr. Chacko, however, played down the absence of the former Chief Minister's son from the party's Delhi campaign.
