Congress plans ‘massive’ Delhi rally with Manmohan Singh as star campaigner

New Delhi: The Congress is looking to deploy former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the campaign trail for the Delhi Lok Sabha election, hoping to tap his economic prowess to corner the Narendra Modi government on issues pertaining to the economy and traders.

The Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) has drawn up a plan to hold a “massive” campaign rally in the Capital, to be addressed by Singh, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Congress president Rahul Gandhi and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

According to a Congress functionary, the state unit has written to Sonia and Rahul Gandhi about the rally, and a final confirmation is awaited.

“We are planning a big rally in Delhi, most probably at Ramlila Maidan. It will serve as a culmination of our Delhi campaign,” said the senior Congress leader.

“Apart from our senior leaders, star campaigners Navjot Singh Sidhu and Shatrughan Sinha are also likely to attend it,” the leader added.

“We held a meeting yesterday with the state unit and the issue was discussed. There’s a huge demand that Soniaji and Manmohanji should address a public meeting in Delhi,” said former Union minister Ajay Maken, who is contesting the Lok Sabha election from New Delhi, when asked about the plans Friday.

“They have done [this] in the past too… The former prime minister will be able to address the concerns of the trading community and the problems of the economy,” he added.

“People still remember the work done by UPA-I and II. We have also requested for the time of the Congress president and Priyanka Gandhi,” Maken said.

This is not the first time the party has sought to deploy Singh, PM Narendra Modi’s predecessor and a renowned economist, to bolster its campaign against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

In the assembly election season last year, he had held several press conferences: At one, in Indore, he had lambasted PM Modi over joblessness, agrarian crisis and corruption.

The Congress had also launched a concerted effort to convince Singh to contest the parliamentary polls from Amritsar in Punjab. However, Singh, who is now 86 years old, had cited his health to refuse the offer.

A roadshow by Priyanka

Talking about other campaign initiatives planned, another party member said while Rahul Gandhi is likely to address a rally, Priyanka will conduct a roadshow in Delhi for the candidates.

“We are trying to hold a roadshow of the Congress president too, but that is still not confirmed. Soniaji and Manmohan Singhji will address the public meeting, which will be attended by all our Delhi candidates too,” said the leader.

Priyanka has so far ventured out of Uttar Pradesh only on two occasions — she campaigned in Silchar for Sushmita Dev and Wayanad for Rahul Gandhi.

The Congress, which had been holding talks with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for a possible alliance in the national capital, decided to go solo this week after a disagreement over seat-sharing arrangements in Haryana.

Former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit and Maken are two of the Congress’ seven candidates.

All the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi were won by the BJP in 2014.

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