Rahul Gandhi's roadshow in Delhi: Cong VP arrives late on venue, slams Modi for PR stunts

Congress party may have only 8 MLA’s in the last Delhi assembly, but the party has not given up hope yet of being able to make a comeback as Rahul Gandhi launched the Congress campaign from South Delhi.

The clout of newly appointed Campaign Committee Chief Ajay Maken was there to see when Rahul Gandhi hit the campaign trail with a roadshow in Govindpuri assembly.

Some habits die hard and it didn’t come as a surprise when Congress vice-president arrived an hour late for the 2.30 pm roadshow. He looked fresh and confident and was flanked by former MLA Subhash Chopra, Delhi Congress Chief Arvinder Singh Lovely and Maken on the vehicle.

“This is one of the reasons why the party is in such a condition” says a local Congress worker. “We have been waiting since 1 pm for him and the crowd is getting restless” he admits. But Rahul’s arrival is cheered by the crowd gathered and the procession takes off.

The Govindpuri assembly was a Congress stronghold under Subhash Chopra, but the 2013 election saw the SAD win the seat with AAP (Avatar Singh) and Congress finishing 2500 and 3500 votes behind Harmeet Singh Kalka.

It’s the Punjabi factor that by dominates the political arithmetic with almost 40% vote while the migrant voter remains influential with almost 20% votes in this assembly. Congress has chosen this seat for Rahul to campaign as the party is betting heavily on their veteran Chopra to pull this one back.

While almost 800 -1000 supporters formed the bulwark of the roadshow around the Gandhi scion, the enthusiasm among the residents was reducing as we kept moving ahead of the cavalcade. “Police has shut shops and traffic has been blocked from 10am itself, yesterday was Republic Day so no business for 2 days” says Subhash Kumar, rickshaw puller from Bihar who has been working here for the past 10 years. Ironic that Congress is eyeing the same vote bank that feels that it has been rubbed the wrong way.

But Rahul seemed undeterred as he made sure that the area got to see as much of him as possible. His body language was relaxed and there was little or no hint of pressure on him. “From May, NDA government is at Centre and PM is busy in doing PR of himself” he told reporters gathered near the roadshow venue. “Public is asking when work will be started” he countered.

But the biggest problem ahead of Congress in this election is not BJP, but the Aam Admi Party. “The Muslim vote seems to be favouring the AAP instead of Congress due to winnability factor while the urban poor still seems firmly behind the broom. Both these sections formed the mainstay of Congress party over the past decades. There is a feeling that AAP will stop the BJP rather than Congress” admits Riaz Ahmed, Congress supporter who voted for the AAP in the last election.

“People voted for AAP because they sold dreams” he reasons when asked about his return to the Congress fold. Perhaps the silver lining lies somewhere there, Congress needs to go back to basics of survival rather than live in the hangover of the past.