New Delhi: After weeks of uncertainty, Congress leaders Ajay Maken and Sandeep Dikshit were able to ensure that the leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi took a tougher stance against Arvind Kejriwal and attacked him directly during the ongoing campaign for Delhi Assembly polls.
It is believed that Delhi leaders prevailed upon Rahul to attack the Aam Aadmi Party convenor in an attempt to regain credibility for the Congress amongst voters in the national capital.
Following the advice, for the first time during the ongoing electoral campaign for Delhi Assembly polls, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi made a scathing and direct attack against his INDI bloc partner Arvind Kejriwal.
Rahul Gandhi's speech made it clear that the grand old party's political fight in the ongoing political battle is with the Aam Aadmi Party. Rahul Gandhi accused Aam Aadmi Convenor Kejriwal and his former deputy Manish Sisodia of the liquor scam.
Lok Sabha leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi at a rally said, " Kejriwal says anything that comes to his mind, when he came, he had a small car and had said that he will do a new kind of politics...he had said he will change Delhi but when poor people were in need, he wasn't there when riots happened he wasn't there...he said he will do clean politics, but in Delhi, the biggest scam of liquor happened and you must have seen the photo of his house...Kejriwal stays in a palace, 'Sheesh Mahal'. So this is the truth."
The top Delhi leaders are learnt to have briefed Rahul about the fallout of not attacking Kejriwal, as it was being perceived that the Congress' top leadership was soft on its INDI bloc ally which could spell doom for the party's attempts at regaining lost ground in the Delhi, sources said.
It must be pointed out that the massive public outrage fuelled by Kejriwal's movement had almost derailed the political careers of several of Sheila Dikshit's proteges including Ajay Maken and her son Sandeep. So this ongoing electoral battle is somewhat like a personal fight for the duo as well.
Over the past few weeks, there has been criticism of the party's high command after its less than enthusiastic participation in the ongoing electoral campaign and its apparent shying away from attacking the top leadership of its ally AAP.
However, Rahul has now sent a clear message to the party cadre that the grand old party wants to reclaim its political legacy in the national capital, which it had ruled through stalwart leader Sheila Dikshit for 15 years. The aggressive campaign mode shows the seriousness of the grand old party to reclaim power in the national capital and take back its vote share from the AAP, which had displaced it from power.
The 70-member Delhi Assembly is scheduled to go to polls on February 5 and the results will be announced on February 8.