Delhi Congress chief Sheila Dikshit urges workers to bring party back to power

In the run-up to the upcoming parliamentary polls, the Delhi Congress is planning to go back to the grassroots and strengthen its local units. Sheila Dikshit, the newly-appointed president of the party’s Delhi wing, has been conducting district-level conventions since last week in an attempt to keep its pack together and to give out the message of a “united Congress” to voters.

On Sunday, Dikshit headed the district committee convention at northwest Delhi’s Kirari, where she urged party members to work towards bringing the party back to power in the city.

Such district meetings chaired by Dikshit will continue across the national capital in the coming weeks.

Sources from the party said that the idea behind the meetings is to strengthen the party in the local units and to give a sense of belonging to lower-rung party workers. Members will also be encouraged to begin door-to-door campaigns, basing their conversation with voters around lack of development after the Congress was voted out of power.

“Ever since the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) came to power, Delhi has become a terrible place to live in. They, along with the BJP in the municipality, are only feeding lies to the people of Delhi and ruining their lives,” Dikshit said Sunday.

Apart from Dikshit, Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) working presidents Haroon Yusuf and Rajesh Lilothia, former legislators Bijendra Singh, Jaikishen and Jagpravesh Kumar, municipal councillors and members of the district Mahila Congress were also present at the convention.

Addressing the crowd, Dikshit said that the roads of the area were last repaired when the Congress government was in power, at the cost of Rs 4,500 crore.

“Since then, neither the BJP in the Centre nor the AAP in the state have bothered to make any repairs. The roads are laden with potholes and are worsening the plight of residents here,” she said.

First Published: Feb 11, 2019 13:00 IST