Sheila Dikshit agrees to campaign after meeting with Ajay Maken

New Delhi: The battered and shattered Congress party, which faced a rout in the last Assembly elections in Delhi, is all set to put up a united front in the byelections which will be held in 20 Assembly seats where AAP legislators were recently disqualified by the Election Commission over the contentious office of profit issue. Sources said that former chief minister Sheila Dikshit, who had stayed off the campaigning in the last Assembly poll, will also campaign for all the 20 candidates that the party will be fielding for the bypolls in the national capital.

Ms Dikshit conveyed her willingness to campaign aggressively for all the candidates to Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken, who visited  her residence on Tuesday. Ms Dikshit, who was the CM of Delhi for 15 consecutive years, had distanced herself from the party’s day-to-day affairs after Mr Maken was appointed  as the head of the party’s city unit about three years ago.

The differences between the two factions had come in the open when Ms Dikshit, along with several other local leaders, had complained to Congress president Rahul Gandhi over the functioning of the party’s city unit. The differences between the two were so deep that the three-time CM made just two visits to the party headquarters at Deen Dayal Uphadyay Marg during the past three years — one when Mr Maken was appointed as the Delhi Congress president and another when former President Pranab Mukherjee’s daughter Sharmishtha was made head of the party’s women wing.

Soon after meeting the former CM, Mr Maken tweeted: “Met Mrs Sheila Dikshit and requested her for more  active role in Delhi Congress. Delhi now remembers her for a sane and development oriented governance. Sheila ji had a great role in mentoring me as her Cabinet minister. We will all work together to regain the glory of Delhi.” Ms Dikshit had recently said that the Congress would definitely win the byelections as AAP government had miserably failed to deliver upon its poll promises.

It is not only Ms Dikshit, but other veteran leaders will also be doing aggressive campaigning for the party candidates. The party has already decided to call veteran leaders every day to deliver press conferences  on different issues concerning the city. Among the leaders who will be address the press conferences from Thursday are former city ministers Yoganand Shastri, A.K. Walia, Haroon Yusuf and Kiran Walia.

“All our experienced leaders will talk about the pressing issues concerning the common man in the city,” veteran Congress leader Chattar Singh said. “The inexperience of AAP leaders has taken the city backward,” he added.