The Delhi Congress on Saturday held the first major rally in the Capital ahead of the Lok Sabha elections led by national president Mallikarjun Kharge in the Geeta Colony area in east Delhi. The rally, which began at 11am, continued till 2.30pm.
Addressing the Nyay Sankalp workers’ convention at Ramlila Maidan in Geeta Colony, Kharge said that Rahul Gandhi was leading the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra despite adverse weather conditions “to save the country’s democracy and Constitution and if his struggle fails, the people will suffer under Narendra Modi government”. The event was organised by the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee.
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The BJP hit back and said that the Congress was a “party of the past which did not understand the concerns of today”.
Kharge urged his party workers to work at the booth levels and pick the right people as agents to defeat the BJP in the upcoming elections. Congress leaders claimed that over 20,000 people participated in the rally.
“Rahul Gandhi is seeking justice for the common man, workers, youth, farmers, women and against the injustice under the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government. Every Congress worker should develop similar enthusiasm. The fight is to protect democracy and the Constitution… If you do not strongly fight the BJP… people will suffer,” Kharge said in his speech.
He added that governance model under Narendra Modi was “not pro-poor”. “We have to once again fight for freedom of speech… FIRs are lodged when someone speaks against injustice. ED and I-T are also ready to frighten the opposition and the people. In the last 10 years 411 MLAs of the opposition parties were poached or put in jail,” Kharge said.
Meanwhile, the event led to traffic congestion around the main roads and stretches in east Delhi, including Pusta Road, Vikas Marg and other areas, officials said.
Security around the area was strengthened ahead of the event. A senior Delhi Police officer said that adequate forces were deployed during the Congress rally on Saturday. “However, we didn’t deploy additional reserve companies for the rally. Nearly 150 policemen from different police stations in Shahdara district ensured smooth functioning of the rally,” said the officer who did not want to be named.
A Congress leader, on condition of anonymity, said the party was keen to contest the East Delhi seat as part of the seat-sharing alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). The East Delhi Lok Sabha seat was represented by the Congress between 2004 and 2014, after which the BJP won the seat. In 2019, BJP’s Gautam Gambhir won the seat in a triangular contest, and Congress candidate Arvinder Singh Lovely was in the second position.
Lovely, the present Delhi Congress president, said the party was mobilising workers across the Capital ahead of the general elections. “The seat-sharing talks are in an advanced stage. We will follow whatever decisions the party high command takes,” said Lovely. He added that the Delhi Congress was strong, and was consolidating its position at the booth level to ensure BJP was defeated.
BJP currently holds all seven Lok Sabha seats of Delhi. Congress, which is in the final stages of seat-sharing talks with AAP, aims to remove the BJP from the seven Lok Sabha seats. Multiple rounds of seat-sharing discussions have been held between senior AAP-Congress leaders, but no final decision has yet been taken.
Hitting out at the Centre, Kharge said that the Modi government’s “Sab Ka Saath, Sabka Vikas” concept has been a deception. “Congress leaders established public institutions and major dams which led to people’s welfare. The infrastructure development of Delhi such as roads, flyovers, and stadiums is an outcome of the Congress government… under Modi, no major institution has been established. They excelled in dividing the people,” Kharge added.
AICC general secretary and Delhi in-charge Deepak Babaria, senior leaders like Ajay Maken, Subhash Chopra, Devender Yadav, Alka Lamba and others also attended the rally.
Delhi chief minister and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal recently said he expects the seat-sharing to be finalised soon. “Good discussions are going on seat-sharing with INDIA alliance. Multiple rounds of discussions have been done, and we expect the results will come,” Kejriwal had said.
Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said the Congress was in a peculiar situation in Delhi. “It has started preparations for the Lok Sabha elections with low confidence but the seat-sharing has not yet been finalised. It was evident from the elderly faces sitting on stage in the rally that Delhi Congress is a party of the past, with leadership that neither understands the concerns of today’s youth nor comprehends women’s empowerment,” Kapoor said.
With inputs from Sanjeev Jha