Sheila Dikshit's legacy is everywhere in Delhi: Congress' Pawan Khera on party's election strategy

New Delhi [India], February 4 : Former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit's influence is clear across Delhi, whether it is metros, buses, parks, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said regarding the party's strategy for Delhi's Assembly election on Tuesday.
In an interview with ANI, Khera, Chairman of AICC's Media and Publicity Department, agreed that the party has fought the upcoming assembly election on the legacy of former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.
"You are right, but in 1998, Sheila ji was an untested person, nobody knew. Her performance was shown in the 15 years of her governance, but in 1998, people invested in Congress, they invested in Mrs Dikshit and they realised they invested wisely. Today too her legacy is there, whether it is the metro, or the buses, which unfortunately is not being maintained now, but clean fuels, parks, everything you see Sheila Dikshit smiling at you," Khera told ANI.
Sheila Dikshit is Delhi's longest serving Chief Minister, being in the position for 15 years (1998-2013). She contested from the now delimited Gole market assembly constituency, which is now the New Delhi assembly constituency. Her son, Sandeep Dikshit, is going to contest from the same seat, against another former CM, Arvind Kejriwal.
Dikshit was unseated by the current ruling party, Aam Aadmi Party, which was formed after Anna Hazare's anti-corruption movement.
Talking about the 2013 defeat of Congress, and Dikshit's comments that "development does is not an issue anymore," Khera said that the party introspected on it heavily, "She was very disappointed with the result. Obviously, we all introspect, where did we go wrong? We did so much work but yet we lost. So we asked the questions to ourselves, that does performance, development not matter? I believe that this question would have troubled her till the end."
Khera was also the former CM Sheila Dikshit's political secretary in 1998, her first term. Dikshit passed away on July 20, 2019.
Exuding confidence in the party winning the 2025 assembly election, Khera said that politics is an unpredictable place, where nobody understands what messaging affects people
"From 15 seats in 1993 to 56 in 1998 has been the journey of Congress. Aam Aadmi (Party) did not exist before that, so from 0 they went from 28-30 to upto 60, so politics is not so predictable. In politics when your words and messages reach the people and when they get convinced, no one has any idea when that happens," Khera said.
When asked about the number of seats the party might win, he added, "Very difficult question. We are fighting in the hopes of winning, any party which contests election, does it with that hope, so we too do that same."
The Congress spokesperson compared that the party's performance will be similar to them winning the 1998 election, whereas AAP will have the role in cutting the votes of BJP instead, comparing it to how Janata Dal supposedly managed to cut the votes of Congress in 1993 assembly election.
In 1993, BJP won the Delhi assembly election, winning 49 seats out of total 70, and Madan Lal Khurana became the CM.
"In 2013, BJP also had the hopes that AAP will be like Janata Dal and benefit the BJP. But something else happened entirely. I think if you compare it with 93 it is unfair. Instead it will be like in 1998 when we won, AAP will be hurting BJP and we will repeat the performance of 1998."
When talking about the Congress' recent continuous attacks on AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, he said that they had in mind the "political appetite" of the people, which was the reason for ramping up the attacks on the last days of the election.
"The appetite of politics in Delhi is not much, people have less time on their hands as they are busy with their day today struggles. The appetite (for politics) is made in the last 5-10 days. Before that, whichever party says whatever, people are not interested in you," he said.
"We, as politicians are very obsessed with ourselves, we think that whole of Delhi is waiting to hear from us which is an absolute joke, it does not happen like that. The last ten days of campaigning is what matters, so that is why we did a good job in the election in the last ten days," Khera added.
Congress leader and Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi has attacked Arvind Kejriwal on various issues, including cleaning the Yamuna river, unfulfilled promises and being involved allegedly in the excise policy scam.
"Earlier Arvind Kejriwal used to roam around in the city in a small car, climb electric poles...He said that I would bring clean politics. After that, the biggest scam in Delhi--the liquor scam of crores of rupees, was done by his party, his people. He has run a corporate government," Rahul Gandhi said on January 29.
On the Yamuna river, Gandhi said, "Five years ago, Arvind Kejriwal said that he would take a bath in the Yamuna River and drink the water of the Yamuna River. It has been five years, and to date, Kejriwal ji has not drunk the water of Yamuna. You have to drink dirty water but Kejriwal ji lives in a 'sheeshmahal'."
The voting for Delhi Assembly election will happen on Wednesday, Februray 5, whereas counting will take place on February 8.
The New Delhi Assembly constituency will see a triangular contest between Congress' Sandeep Dikshit, AAP's Arvind Kejriwal, and BJP's Parvesh Verma.