For Congress, Sheila is its ace in Lok Sabha polls

Battling an existential crisis in Delhi after being decimated more than five years ago, Congress feels it is back in the game and is banking on its ace Sheila Dikshit's 15-year-rule to win back the confidence of people in Lok Sabha elections.

Make no mistake, if BJP candidates are invoking Prime Minister Narendra Modi at every breath, Congress nominees remind the voters every now and then how Dikshit led the Delhi administration and draw a comparison with Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP, with which it held negotiations for an alliance that finally ended in acrimony.

Dikshit is not just a poster-girl but at the age of 81 years, she is contesting from North East Delhi seat where the electoral battle has suddenly attracted national attention.

Congress' Delhi in-charge P C Chacko buttresses the campaign plank. "Today's Delhi, which you see, is a modern city and it was built during the Congress regime. The credit goes to Dikshit. A stable government was provided by her in Delhi. Today, you see Kejriwal fighting with Modi every day, sitting on dharna in LG residence. Kejriwal hardly got the time to rule the state. This is an opportunity for us," Chacko told DH.

For Congress, and especially Dikshit and her supporters, this is a do-or-die battle. Dikshit had opposed a truce with AAP and finally succeeded following hard positions taken by the central leadership of both the parties.

In the past five years, Congress has had nothing much to talk about as it was out of power and was relegated to being an insignificant player. It has no MLAs or MPs but it now believes is on a comeback trail.

Congress points to the increase in its vote share, which had nose-dived to below the 10% mark in 2015 Assembly elections when it could not even open its account. However, in the municipal polls, Congress vote share rose to around 22%. This rise and the subsequent dramatic decline of AAP vote share from 54% to 26% in two years gives hope to Congress.

While nursing hopes of winning a couple of seats, including Dikshit's, Congress' main agenda is to regain the second position in Delhi for the time being by relegating AAP to the third position. Banking on its growth in the past few years, it thinks this will boost its chances in the Assembly polls early next year.

However, this is easier said than done as Congress will have to regain the faith of Dalits, Muslims and slum dwellers, who had shifted their allegiance to AAP. Kejriwal still has a hold on them through his government's work in power, water, education and health sectors.

“We are on a growth path. People will have a resonance with Congress this time. Modi government has done nothing to fulfil its promises while Kejriwal has made only hollow promises," Delhi Congress working president and North-West Delhi candidate Rajesh Tilothia told DH.