Delhi polls 2015: How Congress can play spoiler that may in turn affect AAP & BJP, Delhi assembly election 2015, Delhi election updates

Delhi polls 2015: How Congress can play spoiler that may in turn affect AAP & BJP

 At a time when BJP has resorted to, as one writer put, "man-to-man marking" of candidates of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the Delhi assembly polls that are six days away, and another commentator dubbed BJP strategist Amit Shah as the "Alex Ferguson of BJP", it's tempting to keep going with the football analogy — more specifically, with the English Premier League (EPL).

As per the latest league tables Chelsea and Manchester City are No 1 and No 2, with a five-point gap separating the two. Back in Delhi, depending on which opinion poll you believe, it's going to be either AAP or BJP at pole position; ditto for their respective helmsmen, Arvind Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi, who are both in a neck and neck race for chief ministership.

So where does that leave Congress? For an answer, perhaps one should return to the EPL league and see who's at No 3. It's Southampton, a team that wasn't in the top 10 two years ago, and which was in crisis mode in mid-2014, courtesy a player exodus.

Now even their diehard fans would agree that expecting Southampton — which is 10 points behind the leader — to win the EPL is a pipe dream.

Yes, it's almost like expecting Congress to put it past BJP and AAP. But what Southampton can do is play spoiler to mar the prospects of the league favourites — and it's played that role pretty well so far, beating 2012-13 champions Manchester United at Old Trafford and drawing against current leaders Chelsea.

Skeletons Come Tumbling Out

• In a close contest in Delhi, Congress could play a similar role. "Since the victory margin might be barely 3-4%, Congress can be a spoiler for both AAP as well as BJP. If it manages to get 8-10 seats, it can certainly upset the applecart of the leading party," says Sanjay Kumar, director, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS).
  
• In the last assembly elections, Congress cornered a 15% vote share and 8 seats in the 70-member assembly. This time around, though, Kumar doesn't see the Congress winning more than 4-5 seats.
  

After the drubbing in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, followed up by routs in the Maharashtra and Haryana assemblies, Congress is on its knees. It hit virtual rock bottom this week when party loyalist Jayanti Natarajan accused Rahul Gandhi of putting a spanner in the working of the environment ministry (when she was at its helm), only for the party to throw its weight behind its frontman and rubbish her allegations as preposterous. The timing of the scandal can't quite improve Congress' prospects at the Delhi hustings. Or does it really matter?

"Jayanti's revelations will hit Congress' vote bank only a bit. Traditional voters do not decide based on such news. What can happen for Congress is a chain reaction from other political leaders to leave the party," says political commentator Shiv Visvanathan.

"Loyal voters do not care for scams and scandals. They also knew about Lalu's history and still voted him twice as the chief minister of Bihar," said Mohd Atif a resident of Sadar Bazar in Old Delhi. Congress' Ajay Maken is contesting from the constituency.

 src:economictimes

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