Cong stumbles: Leadership missteps hurt strategy

The elections in Delhi again seem to be a tough nut to crack for the congress party. By releasing the first list of 21 candidates for Delhi, the party has shown it’s serious about the elections. However, the central leadership has made a mistake by underestimating Delhi. If the remaining Congress candidates are announced similarly, it will benefit the BJP and cause concern for the Aam Aadmi Party.
Strong candidates have definitely appeared in the first list, but the strategists’ defensive politics has made it a big challenge for them. If Congress had focused on Delhi a year ago and made a strong strategy by making former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit an issue, then it would have been in the competition today. But as it has been happening till now that the central leadership does not give importance to the states, the same has happened with Delhi too. In the situation of the party’s leaders, the candidate will have to try to come into the competition himself, the central leadership is not in a position to help. The central leadership of Congress is making mistakes in every state, the consequences of which the entire party is facing. If they had learnt a lesson from Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, the situation in Haryana and Maharashtra would have been different today. After the defeat in all these states, the party did not become serious about Delhi. Whether it is a matter of giving responsibility or making strategy, the remaining few leaders are struggling themselves. The biggest mistake of the strategists of Congress was made during the Lok Sabha elections.
The central leadership of Congress made a major mistake by compromising with Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party, which had previously weakened the Congress. As a result, Congress leaders in Delhi felt that the high command was turning Delhi into another UP or Bihar, where Congress has become a secondary player, following the lead of parties like RJD and SP. This marginalization led many prominent Congress leaders to leave the party and join BJP or AAP.

After the Lok Sabha elections, AAP itself distanced from Congress, and the indecision of Congress’ central leadership further harmed the party in Delhi.
Whether it was Rahul Gandhi or Mallikarjun Kharge, the top leadership ignored Delhi. By distancing themselves from the Nyay Yatra, they signaled that Congress might enter into an alliance with AAP, implying that Congress would play a subordinate role in a friendly contest to divide votes and stop BJP. In Parliament, Congress was seen aligning with AAP as part of the India Alliance, but outside Parliament, a contradictory atmosphere was created, showing discord between the two parties. Despite Kejriwal refusing to ally with Congress, Congress leaders remained silent, which hurt the party’s standing.
Now, by offering a ticket to Sheila Dikshit’s son, Sandeep Dikshit, in New Delhi, Congress seems to be presenting her legacy as a potential issue for the party. If they succeed in doing so, perhaps Congress could win a few seats. However, had Congress made Sandeep Dikshit the state president a year ago instead of Devendra Yadav, the situation might have been different.