New Delhi:The Delhi Congress is in no mood to give a walkover to the ruling AAP in the impending Assembly polls due early next year. A telltale sign of the Congress' intent can be made out from the fact that the party has, according to sources, decided to field "heavyweight" leaders like former Lok Sabha MP Sandeep Dikshit, Delhi party chief Devender Yadav, former Delhi minister Haroon Yusuf and its Mahila wing chief Alka Lamba against the sitting ministers of the Delhi government.
The Congress party, which has not been able to open its account in the last two Assembly polls, is planning to field its "stars" in its bid to ensure that the party is able to win back at least those seats that were considered its bastion during the 15-year-long rule of late chief minister Sheila Dikshit.
Learning lessons from the Haryana polls debacle, the Congress, according to sources, is planning to declare the first list of its candidates by this weekend.
“The party is not going to repeat the mistakes made by the Haryana Congress unit by delaying announcements of candidates, among other things, thereby leaving the candidates little or no time for canvassing. We are all set to declare our first list at the earliest,” the sources claimed.
Party sources claim that Mr Dikshit, a two-time Lok Sabha MP from East Delhi, is in the reckoning to be fielded from either the Babarpur or the New Delhi Assembly seat.
The Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee chief will contest from Badli, or so claim the sources. Mr Yadav was previously elected as an MLA from the same seat in the 2008 and 2013 polls and twice served as an MCD councillor from the area prior to it.
According to sources, while five-term MLA from Ballimaran Mr Yusuf will contest from the same seat, Ms Lamba will take on chief minister Atishi in the Kalkaji seat if the latter is fielded by the AAP.
Also, speculation is rife that Mumtaz Patel, daughter of former senior Congress leader late Ahmed Patel, will also be fielded to contest the Delhi Assembly polls.
Other probables include former MLA Anil Bharadwaj from Sadar, Rohit Choudhary from Nangloi, Mangesh Tyagi from Burari, Lokender Singh from Timarpur, Asif Muhammad Khan or his daughter Ariba from Okhla, Parveen Jain from Shalimar Bagh and Mudit Aggarwal from Chandni Chowk.
The Congress Delhi unit had recently held its first screening committee meeting in which 7-10 names were shortlisted, sources claims, adding that the shortlisted names will be further sent to the Congress Working Committee (CWC) for the final nod.
The party recently concluded a month-long Nyay Yatra led by Mr Yadav. The yatra covered all the 70 Assembly seats and is being seen as an attempt to regain the Congress' lost ground in the city-state. Buoyed by the success of the yatra, the Congress is in no mood to give a cakewalk to the AAP unlike the last elections.
Any vote share gain for the Congress could mean loss to the ruling AAP, or so say the political pundits.
