Cong may go solo, Sheila Dikshit likely to fight from Chandni Chowk

New Delhi: If tieup on the seat sharing arrangement between AAP and Congress does not materialise, Congress is all set to field state unit chief and three-time chief minister Sheila Dikshit from Chandni Chowk constituency; former Union minister Ajay Maken from New Delhi; former MPs Ramesh Kumar from South and JP Aggrawal from Northeast Delhi; Rajesh Lilothia from Northwest Delhi; and Olympian Sushil Kumar from West Delhi.

The party is likely to declare candidates on all seven parliamentary seats on April 21.

AAP has already announced its candidates for all seven seats — Raghav Chaddha from South Delhi, Dilip Pandey from Northeast, Gugan Singh from Northwest, Brijesh Goyal from New Delhi, Pankaj Gupta from Chandni Chowk, and Balbir Singh Jakhar from West Delhi. So far, 36 candidates have filed their nominations.

Earlier on Saturday, AAP accused Congress of backtracking on the poll pact. Senior party leader and AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said that AAP agreed to the seat-sharing arrangements proposed by Congress but the grand old party backtracked.

On Friday, AAP leader Gopal Rai said they have given Congress a last chance to form an alliance with his party. “We have again given a chance; people of the country want that. We have given Congress a last chance to think it over. Let’s see what happens,” Mr Rai told the media.

Control room inaugurated at DPCC office for poll campaign

Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) president Sheila Dikshit on Saturday inaugurated the control room of the DPCC for the Lok Sabha elections at the DPCC office at Rajiv Bhawan. The centralised control room at the DPCC office will co-ordinate with the control rooms in all the seven Lok Sabha constituencies in Delhi and disseminate relevant information regarding Congress candidates’ election campaign.

There are seven separate desks at the DPCC control room to collate information from all the seven parliamentary constituencies, including the detailed campaign schedule, meetings, and other programmes of each of the Congress candidates. There is also a separate legal desk at the control room to advise the Congress candidates on legal matters that may arise during the election campaign.

The control room will use social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Shakti App, WhatsApp, SMS, and voice call extensively for the election campaign.

It will also provide information regarding UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi’s public meeting and Congress president Rahul Gandhi and AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi’s road show.

Former Delhi minister Dr Narendra Nath said that Mr Gandhi has allowed the use of the Shakti app by the DPCC control room.

Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses etc all. Happy reading.