Former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit has criticised her Congress party's campaign
Sheila Dikshit, who led three Congress governments in Delhi, today blamed the party's defeat on a weak campaign led by Ajay Maken, who, she said, should have been more aggressive. "I just pity him," she said in a blunt critique.
"The campaign was not as aggressive as it should have been. We were muted on the work we had done for 15 years," the former Delhi Chief Minister said.
"The entire world agreed that the Congress worked for Delhi. Our leaders did not project it as they should have," she added.
The 76-year-old three-time chief minister said she was particularly disturbed by the fall in the party's vote percentage.
The Congress did not win a single seat in the Delhi election, plumbing new depths after a series of poll defeats since it lost power at the Centre in May.
Owning responsibility for the defeat, Mr Maken, who was the party's face in Delhi, offered to quit his party posts.
His mentor-turned-party rival Sheila Dikshit said, "Maken was chairman of the campaign committee...he should have been more aggressive. If the criticism is aggressive, then our promotion should be equally aggressive."
She added that the signals that the Congress party sent out throughout the campaign were not ones that would inspire confidence.
"Our strategy was very weak. We had no excuse for the poor campaign," she said.
In these elections, the Congress had made a conscious decision not highlight Ms Dikshit in their campaign to take care of anti-incumbency sentiments.
In an earlier interview, Mr Maken had said, "We have a tradition of projecting only our party president, vice president and the stage chief in posters and banners. Besides we are also offering new things. So that's when people ask why you couldn't do them in your 15 year rule."
Sheila Dikshit hit back, saying the Congress lost power in Delhi in 2013 because of voters' fatigue and the perception of corruption in the central government, in which Mr Maken was then a minister.