‘Party leaders believe that he is the only powerful person in the Congress who can win the seat’.
Srinagar: After the Rajendra Nagar Assembly constituency went vacant due to the ascension of the AAP state legislator Raghav Chadha, who got a berth in Rajya Sabha, there are internal meetings taking place in Congress as to who will be fielded on the Assembly seat for the bypolls which will be held within six months.
Many leaders in the meeting have suggested the name of Ajay Maken as the seat falls in Lok Sabha constituency of New Delhi which Maken had contested in 2019 Lok Sabha polls, but lost to the BJP candidate Meenakashi Lekhi with the margin of 256504 votes. The Rajinder Nagar Assembly constituency is a part of the New Delhi Lok Sabha seat. The party leaders believe that he is the only powerful person in the Congress who can win the seat. “Congress wants to give a befitting fight to the BJP and AAP in the coming bypolls,” a party leader said.
Maken is a two-time MP, winning the New Delhi Lok Sabha seat first time in 2004 and later on retaining the seat in 2009. But in the backdrop of a Modi wave in 2014, Maken lost to the BJP candidate.
The Delhi unit wants to leave no stone unturned in preparations for the coming bypoll as, in the meanwhile, it will also go through leadership reshuffle at the grassroots. Party leaders are tight-lipped about any development taking place within the party.
Vikram Lohia, Delhi Congress spokesperson, said, “Congress will take up important issues and bring them on the streets to fight for people in the coming bypolls, and our party is strongly standing against the misrule of the Delhi Government. Congress will field a candidate on Rajendra Nagar seat, who will be among the people, the one who has acceptance among people, and the one who has been active in working among people, the one who will be there for the people in their thick and thin.”
Lohia added, “Choosing a candidate for the seat will be the decision of the Congress and high command as to who will be fielded on the seat. This time each member in the Congress will help sail the party candidate over the victory mark.”
Dipak Sharma, a Delhi-based political consultant who has worked for several parties, said, “Seeing current scenario it feels like, although Ajay Maken is a big name and a big face in the Congress, somehow vote bank consolidation of the party has been weak, and their vote bank has been held by Aam Aadmi Party from a long time now, so it will be very difficult for Congress to emerge as victorious.”
Sharma further added, “A party can bring any face but what happens is, once the mood of public changes, no face is going to favour any candidate and now you can see the momentum has totally gone against Congress, the way they have been performing in other states, it is going down by the day. So somewhere, Congress lacks a successful recipe to win the elections.”