Updated 12 February 2020 at 14:42 IST
PC Chacko blames late Sheila Dikshit after Delhi drubbing, draws criticism of Cong leaders
Congress’ Delhi in-charge PC Chacko sparked off a controversy on Wednesday as he held late Sheila Dikshit responsible for the decline of the party in Delhi.
- India News
- 3 min read
Congress’ Delhi in-charge PC Chacko sparked off a controversy on Wednesday as he held late Sheila Dikshit responsible for the decline of the party in the national capital. This comes even as Congress failed to win a single seat in the recently concluded Delhi Assembly polls and garnered a vote share of just 4.26 per cent. According to him, AAP as a new party took away the “entire” Congress vote bank when Dikshit was the Delhi Chief Minister in 2013.
Chacko’s remarks drew the ire of many party leaders such as Milind Deora and Pawan Khera. While Deora slammed him for ignoring Dikshit’s contribution as an administrator, Khera pointed out that Congress had done well electorally whenever Dikshit was at the helm of affairs including the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Dikshit passed away in July 2019. Later in the day, Chacko resigned as the party in-charge of Delhi.
PC Chacko, Congress on #DelhiResults2020: The downfall of the Congress party started in 2013 when Sheila ji was the CM. The emergence of a new party AAP took away the entire Congress vote bank. We could never get it back. It still remains with AAP. pic.twitter.com/aIpjSqz6bd
— ANI (@ANI) February 12, 2020
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Sheila Dikshit ji was a remarkable politician & administrator. During her tenure as Chief Minister, Delhi was transformed & Congress was stronger than ever.
— Milind Deora मिलिंद देवरा (@milinddeora) February 12, 2020
Unfortunate to see her being blamed after her death. She dedicated her life to @INCIndia & the people of Delhi https://t.co/XwQPlHE6cw
Just a data point. In 2013, when we lost, @INCIndia vote share in Delhi was 24.55%. Sheila ji was not involved in 2015, when the vote share slipped to 9.7%. In 2019, when she was back in charge, the vote share came up to 22.46%. https://t.co/MvwHouRILh
— Pawan Khera (@Pawankhera) February 12, 2020
Diminishing fortunes of Congress
The 2020 Delhi Assembly polls mark further setback for Congress which was in power for three consecutive terms from 1998 under the leadership of the late Sheila Dikshit. In the 2013 election, its tally fell from 43 to just 8 seats as BJP emerged as the single-largest party. However, Harsh Vardhan refused to form the government as BJP did not have a clear majority in the 70-member House.
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Thereafter, there was a tectonic shift in politics as Congress agreed to extend outside support to AAP that had won only 28 seats. But this arrangement did not sustain for a long time as Kejriwal resigned in February 2014. Since then, Congress has been unable to win a seat in either the Lok Sabha or the Assembly elections.
Published By : Akhil Oka
Published On: 12 February 2020 at 14:42 IST