Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi's defence to shield himself from former minister Jyanthi Natarajan's allegations, regarding his interference in the working of environment ministry on Wednesday has irked his own party men, who are pitted in a tough battle, to revive fortunes in the national capital.

Addressing a rally for the assembly elections in Delhi, Rahul Gandhi said, "Yes I asked Jayanti Natarajan to save environment and tribals. I said something about Modi and they brought Jayanti Natarajan. Yes I have fought for the poor and tribals."

His own party leaders were murmuring that Delhi was the last place to sell what Mr. Gandhi did for tribals. Instead boosting the sagging morale of his workers, he boasted his agenda for tribals in the heart of city, by virtually confessing having stalled projects and contributing to urban unemployment.

Even after ruling the national capital for over 15-years, votes have dried up for the Congress. "We were the formidable ruling party just a year ago. But now we are not even in the race. The fight is between the AAP and the BJP. Another rout is staring at us," a senior leader said at the party headquarters.

Earlier, in a strongly worded letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Natarajan has accused Rahul Gandhi of interference in the environment ministry by sending her "specific requests" on green clearances for large projects which she duly stopped to "honour those requests" Natrajan has quit the Congress after serving the party for 30 years.

While Congress leaders say, they were in race in atleast 17 seats, out of the total of 70, an internal survey is giving only three seats to the party. The lucky winners, according to survey includes president Pranab Mukherjee's daughter Sharmistha Mukherjee from posh Greater Kailash seats. Others include former ministers Rajkumar Chauhan from Mongolpuri and AK Walia from Laxminagar. The survey predicts that party will fare third on 35 seats and lose its deposit on 25 seats. But many party leaders, who have seen this survey said it appears an attempt to settle scores.

The party's main worry is that Muslim vote is deserting the party fast and it could have cascading effect not only on nearby states, but in Bihar and later in UP as well. It is believed that sensing no prospects of Congress revival, Muslim voters may vote for the AAP en-block unlike in 2013 when not many of them had favoured the AAP. They had already shifted in large number to AAP in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, though not giving enough votes to help AAP win any seat as all seven seats in the capital had gone to the BJP.

Muslims have a decisive presence in around 10 assembly constituencies to impact the outcome and as such the results will show if their drift to AAP is complete or the Congress is able to win back support of some.

Apprehensive of the RSS connections with the Anna Hazare Andolan and AAP, the Muslims did not desert the Congress in large numbers in 2013 when the Congress bagged four Muslim-dominated seats, the fifth one going to Shoaib Iqbal, who had contested on the Janata Dal(U) ticket and who is now a Congress candidate from Matia Mahal. He had won the seat four times in a row.

Delhi has almost 12 per cent Muslims as per the 2011 Census. Of the 70 assembly constituencies in Delhi, there are five seats where the Muslims account for almost or sometimes little over 40 per cent of total population and hence they are able to swing results. These are Chandni Chowk, Matia Mahal, Ballimaran, Okhla and Seelampur. In December 2013 Assembly elections, the BJP could not win any of these seats.

Major Muslim parties have stayed away from the contest, conceding ground to the AAP. While the All India Majlis-EIttehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) and the Welfare Party of India (WPI) have stayed out of the Delhi elections, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and the Peace Party of India had put up one candidate, though last week Delhi unit of the Peace Party declared its merger into the AAP.