New DPCC chief urges workers to reach out to residents and highlight development works carried out during her regime

Taking over as president of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) on Wednesday, former Chief Minister of Delhi Sheila Dikshit sought the help of party workers to ensure that the party wins all seven Lok Sabha seats in the city.

“Our target is to reach out to the people in every nook and corner of the city to ensure the victory of the Congress party in all seven parliamentary seats in Delhi. I will be available to the Congress workers 24 hours a day to motivate them to work for the party at the grassroots level,” Ms. Dikshit said, thanking UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi for showing faith in her at a crucial time.

Ms. Dikshit took overs as DPCC president from Ajay Maken who stepped down from the post citing health reasons on January 4.

The three newly appointed working presidents of the DPCC — Haroon Yusuf, Devender Yadav and Rajesh Lilothia — also took charge.

‘No alliance talks yet’

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the event on the possibility of a tie-up with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for the upcoming election, Ms. Dikshit said that she was not in favour of any alliance and that there were no talks yet.

She added that the way in which AAP MLAs had spoken about former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in the Delhi Assembly was not right and it had hurt the sentiment of party workers.

Ms. Dikshit told party workers that they must work together and reach out to the Delhiites to highlight the development works that were carried out during the 15 years of her regime to put Delhi on a par with the best cities in the world.

She hit out at the BJP which is in power at the Centre and in the municipal bodies in the city, and the AAP government in Delhi for “hollow promises”. “Our government believed in delivering instead of making hollow promises like other parties to fool the people,” said Ms. Dikshit.

The last time Ms. Dikshit first became the DPCC president in 1998, she led the party to power that year and became the Chief Minister for 15 consecutive years.

Congratulating Ms. Dikshit on her appointment, Mr. Maken said that her contribution to the development of Delhi was unparalleled and her experience of leading Delhi as a former DPCC president and as the CM would only enrich the party.

Senior Congress leaders Karan Singh, Meira Kumar, Janardan Dwivedi and P.C. Chacko stressed the need, for the party that currently has no representation in the Delhi Assembly and had lost all seven Lok Sabha seats, to rebuild and come back to power.