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Delhi Congress chief on polls: 'This zero much different from previous zero'
Congress' Devender Yadav listed several takeaways for the party from the third consecutive zero-seat tally in the Delhi assembly election.
Delhi Congress chief Devender Yadav said on Tuesday that the party's third consecutive tally of zero seats from the recent assembly election was “different” from its past poll performances and explained the reasons behind his assessment.
The Congress leader claimed that the party was able to create a perception among the electorate that it was a three-way contest with the Aam Aadmi Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party and not a two-way one, reported The Indian Express.
He also claimed that the result has given the party hope that it will be able to win back the support of its “core voters” – the Dalits, minorities and the underprivileged.
Yadav told the publication that the Congress could regain the support of voters who had switched loyalties to the AAP during its tenure. He stressed that the grand old party was always their “first choice.”
"We couldn’t enter the Delhi Assembly for the third consecutive term… that is a personal loss for us but we were able to build a perception that it is a three-way contest and not a two-way contest. So, yes, we have still been able to make a lot of progress. But this time, the zero that we secured is much different from the zero that we secured last time — the reason being that after this election, we are hopeful that we will be able to win back the loyalties of our core voters: Dalits, underprivileged and minorities. The hope is now that AAP is no longer in government, we will be able to win back the vote share of the electorate for whom we were always the first choice," he told the newspaper.
Also read | 'How many MLAs in Delhi’: Bhagwant Mann jabs Congress over ‘dissent’ claim
INDIA bloc unity
Questions of alliance unity emerged within the INDIA bloc after alliance partners TMC and the SP backed the AAP over Congress for the Delhi assembly elections.
The SP chief also reasoned that his party was backing AAP as it was in the best position to defeat the BJP in the national capital. The Kannauj MP also called for regional parties to take the lead in fighting the BJP in states wherever they are in a stronger position.
Alliance leaders Tejashwi Yadav of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Sharad Pawar of the NCP(SCP) said recently that the anti-BJP alliance was meant to fight only national elections.
Also read | Mamata blames Congress, AAP for BJP’s Delhi victory, rules out alliance for 2026
Kapil Sibal's advice
Senior advocate and Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal on Tuesday said that the parties in the INDIA bloc need to “sit together and work things out” following the heavy losses suffered by both Congress and AAP in the Delhi assembly elections.
“Congress party always tries to work together and to move ahead with consent. This is true that there are problems at times. In the last election in Bihar, Congress were given seats but they could not win and RJD said that they could not come to power because of Congress. All the parties (of the INDIA alliance) will have to decide how to contest elections,” Sibal said at a press conference.
