No one to do what Dikshit did

The Delhi Congress is facing a hard time finding a prominent face to lead its campaign for possible Assembly elections, once the Lok Sabha polls are over.

The party is now conducting a survey of its primary members in all 70 Assembly segments in Delhi to find someone who could take the place of former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. But, so far, the exercise has not thrown up a clear favourite for the slot.

 The survey in 20 Assembly segments in East Delhi and North-East Delhi parliamentary constituencies is over.
 “In the internal survey, we have asked party’s primary members to vote for a party leader to be the face against the other parties’ chief ministerial candidates. So far, no clear result has emerged,” said a senior Congress leader.

Sources said the survey offered many options like the current city Congress chief Arvinder Singh Lovely, MLA Haroon Yusuf, Sheila Dikshit’s son and East Delhi MP Sandeep Dikshit. But the party members’ preferences were split among the leaders.

None of them was picked by a majority of party members who were quizzed.

The party is also considering the coming parliamentary election to be the litmus test for possible polls to the Assembly. Sources say the party is facing difficulty in campaigns in all of the seven parliamentary constituencies due to lack of a “crowd puller” like Sheila Dikshit.

But after getting the results of the internal survey from other areas of Delhi, the party’s state unit is likely to decide on on prominent face after the parliamentary elections. Sources say a major announcement is likely on April 11.

“Depending on the results of survey, the state unit may face a rejig again after April 10,” said a source.
A number of posts of Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee, which are lying vacant after the resignation of former chief J P Agarwal, will also be filled after the elections to Lok Sabha.