Cong may have to begin minus Sonia

“We had to postpone her November 7 rally as this is the date for scrutiny of tickets. We could not have held it on November 9 as was planned earlier because this is the day for withdrawal of names. We are planning to hold her rally after November 10. However, the campaign in Delhi will begin after the announcement of candidates on November 6”.

Beginning in the last week of October, the Delhi Congress has repeatedly failed to get the party president to launch the campaign in Delhi. Her office has already postponed the dates four times.

Sonia Gandhi’s rally, to be held at the Feroz Shah Kotla grounds, was first scheduled for November 3. On October 29, it was postponed to November 9 and on October 30 the party advanced the date to November 7. “It is a rerun of the last Parliamentary elections when the Congress launched its campaign 15 days after the BJP. We just want the leaders to tour our constituencies and consolidate our position,” laments a party leader.

The Congress has been giving vague explanations for the repeated postponement of Sonia Gandhi’s rally. At first, highly placed party sources said, “We did not get clearance from the municipal authorities for holding the rally at the Feroz Shah Kotla grounds.” The Municipal Corporation of Delhi, on the other hand, said that it had given permission for the rally.

Sources in the DPCC said that the rally was being sabotaged by AICC leaders, who were trying to postpone the rally to after the date when the candidates would be announced. “Once the candidates are announced those who don’t get tickets may try to sabotage the rally and this would be very embarrassing for the Delhi Congress leadership,” a vice-president of the DPCC observed.