Tie-up with AAP? Congress dials 52,000 Delhi cadres for an answer
Atul Mathur | TNN | Updated: Mar 14, 2019, 05:37 IST
At a party event organised on Saturday, many Congress workers seemed to be in favour of going it aloneNEW DELHI: Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has repeatedly called for it but the Congress state unit has been steadfastly opposing it. Now, the Congress leadership has decided to seek the opinion of its booth-level workers on whether it should tie up with Aam Aadmi Party in the capital.
Senior leaders said automated calls were being made to thousands of booth-level Congress workers through interactive voice response (IVR) system, with a pre-recorded message from P C Chacko, the party in-charge for Delhi.
The respondents have to select from menu options, using the mobile keypad, to register their opinion.
Sources said the party will take the views of 52,000 Congress workers registered under Rahul Gandhi’s ambitious Shakti project, launched last year to connect with booth-level workers .
Chacko said the exercise began late Wednesday evening. “I had a discussion with Delhi Congress president and working presidents, former DPCC chiefs and district presidents, and their opinion has been recorded. We are now taking the workers’ opinion.”
The Delhi unit in-charge said Congress will settle the thorny issue after taking the party workers’ opinion into consideration.
If tie-up happens in Delhi, it will only be for LS polls, says Chacko
Chacko said the party’s priority was to prevent BJP from winning. “Our target is to defeat the BJP and we are taking the opinion of Congress workers to know what can be the best strategy for that. We should get a feel of what the workers are thinking,” he added.
AAP, however, said Congress was only trying to find reasons of not forging an alliance. “Earlier, they denied that there were any talks or offers (on alliance) from AAP. But when they were exposed, they shifted the blame on the Delhi unit (for not joining hands). Now they are trying to find a scapegoat in their ground workers,” AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj said. “Congress as a political party is actually allying with the BJP to divide non-BJP votes.”
This is not the first time that Congress’ foot soldiers were being consulted by the party leadership on an important issue. Sources said a similar exercise was carried out for finalising the name of the Delhi Congress president after Ajay Maken resigned from the post early this year. The party had also taken the opinion of party workers of respective states before finalising the chief ministers of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh last year.
While Congress has joined hands with other political parties and formed alliances in other states, it has been undecided on getting into a similar arrangement with AAP in Delhi. While AICC president Rahul Gandhi said no to the possibility of an tie-up with AAP, arguing that the party’s Delhi unit, led by DPCC president Sheila Dikshit, was against it, sources confirmed that the top leaders of the two parties were still engaged in discussion.
The meeting between Dikshit and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi last week, followed by the former’s stoic silence again gave fodder to rumour mills that the Congress leadership wanted the state unit to reconsider its decision.
Chacko said party leaders were apprehensive that they will lose political space in Delhi if they get into an alliance. “These apprehensions are natural,” Chacko said. “But our target in the 2019 elections is to oust Modi. That is why we are having alliance in all states. There is a difference of opinion with all parties on political ideology, approach and style of working. But we all agree on one point that we have to defeat the BJP. If the alliance happens in Delhi, it will only be restricted to the 2019 Lok Sabha election,” Chacko said.
Senior leaders said automated calls were being made to thousands of booth-level Congress workers through interactive voice response (IVR) system, with a pre-recorded message from P C Chacko, the party in-charge for Delhi.
The respondents have to select from menu options, using the mobile keypad, to register their opinion.
Sources said the party will take the views of 52,000 Congress workers registered under Rahul Gandhi’s ambitious Shakti project, launched last year to connect with booth-level workers .
Chacko said the exercise began late Wednesday evening. “I had a discussion with Delhi Congress president and working presidents, former DPCC chiefs and district presidents, and their opinion has been recorded. We are now taking the workers’ opinion.”
The Delhi unit in-charge said Congress will settle the thorny issue after taking the party workers’ opinion into consideration.
If tie-up happens in Delhi, it will only be for LS polls, says Chacko
Chacko said the party’s priority was to prevent BJP from winning. “Our target is to defeat the BJP and we are taking the opinion of Congress workers to know what can be the best strategy for that. We should get a feel of what the workers are thinking,” he added.
AAP, however, said Congress was only trying to find reasons of not forging an alliance. “Earlier, they denied that there were any talks or offers (on alliance) from AAP. But when they were exposed, they shifted the blame on the Delhi unit (for not joining hands). Now they are trying to find a scapegoat in their ground workers,” AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj said. “Congress as a political party is actually allying with the BJP to divide non-BJP votes.”
This is not the first time that Congress’ foot soldiers were being consulted by the party leadership on an important issue. Sources said a similar exercise was carried out for finalising the name of the Delhi Congress president after Ajay Maken resigned from the post early this year. The party had also taken the opinion of party workers of respective states before finalising the chief ministers of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh last year.
While Congress has joined hands with other political parties and formed alliances in other states, it has been undecided on getting into a similar arrangement with AAP in Delhi. While AICC president Rahul Gandhi said no to the possibility of an tie-up with AAP, arguing that the party’s Delhi unit, led by DPCC president Sheila Dikshit, was against it, sources confirmed that the top leaders of the two parties were still engaged in discussion.
The meeting between Dikshit and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi last week, followed by the former’s stoic silence again gave fodder to rumour mills that the Congress leadership wanted the state unit to reconsider its decision.
Chacko said party leaders were apprehensive that they will lose political space in Delhi if they get into an alliance. “These apprehensions are natural,” Chacko said. “But our target in the 2019 elections is to oust Modi. That is why we are having alliance in all states. There is a difference of opinion with all parties on political ideology, approach and style of working. But we all agree on one point that we have to defeat the BJP. If the alliance happens in Delhi, it will only be restricted to the 2019 Lok Sabha election,” Chacko said.
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