Our goal is to get Delhi back in shape: Sandeep Dikshit
Sandeep Dikshit discusses Congress's strategy for Delhi elections, focusing on past governance, financial management, and public dissatisfaction with AAP.
Congress’s New Delhi constituency candidate Sandeep Dikshit, who is also a former MP, discussed the upcoming Delhi elections and his party’s vision for the national capital with HT. Edited excerpts:

The Congress was in power for 15 years but did not get a single seat in the last two elections. What went wrong?
I think the atmosphere in 2011-13, when the Government of India was put under the scanner and the ‘India Against Corruption’ movement was strong, swayed the public and damaged us badly. But as time has shown, 99.9% of what they said was false. Not a single case of misdemeanour or corruption was found either by the AAP or the BJP. In Delhi, Mrs Dikshit (Sheila Dikshit) used to tell us that she’s built a Delhi which will easily last up to 2024. So, Kejriwal pumped in most of the resources into, what we call, populism, advertising and making things free. This got votes, but the people can now see that no new work was done.
How do you plan to resuscitate the party in Delhi? How will Congress fulfil promised sops and guarantees?
Our main plan is to increase revenue sources in Delhi. If you take Delhi’s tax revenue between 2004 and 2014, there’s actually a tax revenue loss of ₹18,000 crore according to the RBI’s state of finance data. So, the Kejriwal government is clearly unable to manage the city’s finances or reduce losses. If we can give subsidies to the extent that people want but not overdo it, I think we’ll be able to sustain both the subsidy promises that we are making and build a better Delhi.
The whole Congress campaign dwells around “Sheila ji’s Delhi”... but what are the issues that Congress is fighting on?
The goal definitely is to get Delhi back in shape as it was in the time of the Congress. There were new flyovers and improved roads, electricity demands were met with new CNG plants, water supply situation was improved—over which hardly 2% work has been done in the past 10 years—and the STP capacity was also augmented. There was an overload of city infrastructure during Sheila ji’s time. That is the Delhi that people are badly missing now. In the past 10 years, there has been no reduction in the waste hills at Ghazipur or Okhla. We have a legacy of good performance. So, we are telling people that if you really want a Delhi that is worthy of being a Capital, you need to vote in the Congress.
You have been an MP from East Delhi twice and are contesting for an MLA seat. How are the issues and stakes different?
The issues are very different; there are mostly street and community level problems. People are clearly thinking about problems they face on a daily basis. As an opposition (party) now, we have to critique the government and the kind of future we plan to bring. In that sense, this is a far more exciting election.
During the last assembly elections, Kejriwal received over 45,000 votes while the Congress’s share was about 3,000. How do you plan to scale the margin?
People are not very happy with Kejriwal’s performance as an MLA and CM. In the past five years, he has not offered anything to the people of the constituency. In the past 10 years, nothing new has happened in the NDMC area. Even for weaker sections, there was a system of muster rolls in NDMC that provided employment. After the AAP and BJP came to power, this was completely stopped in 2014. So, there is anti-incumbency of not working, not visiting as an MLA and not providing employment that are big challenges. Kejriwal is in big trouble.
