Congress wooing AAP’s auto-rickshaw voter base

The Congress’ Delhi unit is trying to make a dent among voters in the auto-rickshaw wallah community — a key factor in the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) victory in the last Assembly elections.

The move is part of the Congress’ efforts to win back votes from different communities that had shifted to AAP in a big way in the 2015 Assembly polls. A segment of auto-rickshaw unions that had played a big role in mobilising support for the AAP, is thought to have moved from being an AAP “believer” to being a member of the “Auto Rickshaw Congress”, an “outreach organisation” formed in March this year. It has started a blood bank facility for auto drivers’ family members in the capital and has been providing them with lawyers to resolve their challan cases. It has also been helping them to pool money for use by members in times of emergency.

Within the last one year, the Congress has formed over 11 “outreach organisations” in the capital, to make a comeback in the MCD elections due in April next year.

Kallu Singh, chairman, Auto Rickshaw Congress, said, “We believed in the AAP, gave them multiple opportunities and trusted their promises. But since Arvind Kejriwal came back to power, he has not met us even once, let alone talk about our issues. Before the elections, he had promised us that he will ensure that traffic police does not misuse laws and the backlog that we suffer in getting our permits will be dealt with too. However, the price of auto-rickshaws is rising and our chief minister has not bothered to even look at us once.”

Chattar Singh, vice-president, Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee, said, “Through our outreach organisations, we have been reaching out to people from different segments. Various organisations like Poorvanchal Congress, Rehri Patri (street vendors) Congress, Traders’ Congress, Auto Rickshaw Congress and others have been formed.”

Poorvanchal Congress hopes to take on Manoj Tiwari, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s newly appointed Delhi unit chief. Shiv Jee, chairman, Poorvanchal Congress, said, “Poorvanchal Congress was constituted last year and now has 18,250 office-bearers in Delhi. A large number of people who belong to Poorvanchal and Parvatiya live in Delhi as tenants and belong to the medium to low income groups. Poorvanchal Congress recognises the challenges they are facing due to demonetisation and the AAP’s false promises. The people of Poorvanchal know who has been working for them over the past 10 years in Delhi. Manoj Tiwari does not have a positive image in people’s mind. He might have done more harm than good to the BJP. For Congress, his appointment is a non-issue.”