Won't project CM candidate in Delhi: Congress on elections

New Delhi, Nov 5: Congress would not project any chief ministerial candidate in Delhi and it was not up to Sheila Dikshit or any individual leader to decide against contesting, the party said.

Party spokesman Abhishek Singhvi told reporters that the Congress always fought polls under collective leadership but it was surprising that BJP which projects chief ministerial candidate was not doing so in Delhi.

The chief ministerial candidate of Delhi of BJP is Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said taking a dig at the ruling party at the Centre. Asked about the statement of Dikshit, who led the Congress government in Delhi for 15 long years, that she does not want to contest, he said that may be her personal view, but a decision on who should be in the fray is taken by the high command and not individual leaders.

In the Assembly polls last year, Congress had not only lost power but finished third after BJP and newly-found Aam Aadmi Party.

Singhvi dismissed as "absolutely rubbish" speculation that the party has constituted a committee for Delhi polls in which two controversial leaders Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler have been accommodated.

"These kind of rumours are absolutely rubbish. There is no committee, no meeting. It is time media should also exercise restraint and get their information checked from the most authentic of sources in the party", he said.

AICC General Secretary Shakeel Ahmed, who is in-charge of party affairs in Delhi, also spoke in similar vein. He said that the party would constitute the relevant committees only after the announcement of the poll schedule.

DPCC chief spokesperson Mukesh Sharma condemned the "misinformation being spread by mischievous elements as part of a devious plan".

PTI