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There were two views within the Congress on what the party’s strategy should be in the Delhi elections.
The first thought is that Congress can revive in Delhi only if AAP is eliminated once and for all. AAP’s rise between its first election in 2013, in which it won 28 seats, to 67 out of 70 seat sweeps in 2015, was mainly due to capturing the entire Congress vote.
While the BJP’s vote share was about where it was in this period, the Congress’s vote share fell from 15 percentage points to 10 per cent. AAP succeeded in capturing Congress’ core base of Dalits, Muslims, Purvanchali and urban poor voters.
The section advocating a strong anti-AAP stance in the Congress says that if AAP loses and BJP wins Delhi, the Congress may be able to win back its traditional voters and replace AAP in the long run.
The most vocal leaders in pushing this position are Delhi Congress chief Devendra Yadav and former MP Sandeep Dixit. Dikshit is contesting against CM Arvind Kejriwal from New Delhi constituency and has given several interviews targeting the AAP convenor.
For Yadav, there is another aspect to it. He also happens to be the Congress in-charge for Punjab, where AAP is in power and Congress is the main opposition party. Yadav’s calculation is that if AAP loses Delhi, it will weaken its chances of coming back to power in Punjab in 2027.
However, a section of the party’s central leadership is of the view that defeating the BJP is also important from the point of view of national politics. This section states that this is especially important after the opposition’s defeat in Maharashtra and Haryana.
There is also pressure on Congress allies like RJD and Samajwadi Party, who are known to be sympathetic to AAP as they feel that BJP’s victory in Delhi will strengthen the perception of Modi’s invincibility.
