![[File] Subhash Chopra will have the task of fostering unity in the Congress's Delhi unit ahead of the crucial assembly elections due early next year | PTI](https://img.theweek.in/content/dam/week/news/india/images/2019/10/23/subhash-chopra-delhi-congress-pti.jpg "[File] Subhash Chopra will have the task of fostering unity in the Congress's Delhi unit ahead of the crucial assembly elections due early next year | PTI")
Veteran leader Subhash Chopra, who was relegated to the sidelines of Delhi politics during the Sheila Dikshit era, returned to the political centrestage in the national capital on Wednesday as he was named the new president of the state Congress, months ahead of Assembly elections.
Chopra (72), a three-time MLA and also a former Delhi Congress chief, will occupy the post left vacant due to Dikshit's sudden death on July 20. Cricketer-turned-politician Kirti Azad, who was earlier tipped to be named Delhi Congress president, apparently with an eye on the Purvanchali votes in the capital, has been appointed chairman of the campaign committee of the state unit.
The appointments come after prolonged deliberations over who should succeed Dikshit, and the choice for the central leadership was between younger leaders such as Ajay Maken and Arvinder Singh Lovely, and veterans like Chopra and J.P. Aggarwal.
It is learnt that Azad, who left the BJP and joined the Congress ahead of Lok Sabha elections, had emerged as the frontrunner in the discussions, and the party leadership had even made up its mind to appoint him to the top post in Delhi Congress. However, there was opposition to Azad's appointment, with several members in the state unit demanding that a 'Dilliwallah' and not an 'outsider' be considered to lead the party in the capital. It was argued that Azad is an outsider on two counts—the former cricketer belongs to Bihar and that he has come from the BJP.
Chopra, who was the campaign committee chief for the Assembly elections in 2013, was also the chairman of the campaign committee set up in Delhi prior to the Lok Sabha polls this year. Ahead of the general elections, Chopra, a long-time rival of Dikshit, had changed his stance at the last minute with regard to allying with the AAP, and said that he favoured a tie-up with the Arvind Kejriwal's party.
With Chopra's appointment as Delhi Congress chief happening just ahead of Assembly elections, a big challenge for him would be to get the demoralised state unit fighting fit for the polls. Since its defeat in the Assembly elections in 2014, the Congress has failed to taste electoral success in the capital. As it struggles to get its act together, the Congress is up against a confident Kejriwal regime and an aggressive BJP.
