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Informist, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024

 

NEW DELHI – The rift between the Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress ahead of the Delhi assembly election has again jolted the unity of the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance. AAP has accused the Delhi leadership of the Congress of acting at the behest of the Bharatiya Janata Party and warned that it would speak to other I.N.D.I.A. constituents to remove the Congress from the bloc.

 

Addressing the media, Delhi Chief Minister Atishi and AAP Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh demanded action in 24 hours against Congress Treasurer Ajay Maken for allegedly calling former Delhi chief minister and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal "anti-national".

 

"Congress leader Ajay Maken reads scripts being prepared by the BJP to target AAP leaders in Delhi," Atishi said. "Maken said Arvind Kejriwal is anti-national. We have heard that Sandeep Dikshit is getting funded by the BJP... If Congress thinks we are anti-national, then why did they contest the Lok Sabha elections in alliance with us? It is clear that Congress leaders have reached some mutual understanding with BJP to defeat AAP and make BJP win in Delhi."

 

Singh added, "AAP will ask I.N.D.I.A. bloc parties to remove Congress from the alliance if no action is taken against Maken."

 

On Wednesday, Maken said it was a mistake to form an alliance with AAP in Delhi for the general election earlier this year. He said the capital's current state as well as that of the Congress was due to the party's support to AAP in 2013. "It was perhaps a mistake that was made again in this year's Lok Sabha poll," he said.

 

Maken made the comments during the release of a 12-point White Paper by the Congress to highlight the unfulfilled promises of the AAP government in Delhi and the BJP-led government at the Centre over the past 10 years.

 

The election for the 70-member Delhi Legislative Assembly is likely to be held in February. The term of the current assembly ends on Feb. 15. The previous assembly election in the national capital was held on Feb. 8, 2020. AAP had won 62 seats and the BJP, eight.

 

Earlier, the differences within the I.N.D.I.A. bloc came to the fore during the recently concluded Winter Session of Parliament. Two key allies of the group–-the Trinamool Congress and the Samajwadi Party--were absent from the morning protests held by other members in the Parliament complex against the National Democratic Alliance-led central government.

 

The leaders of the Samajwadi Party and the Trinamool Congress cited lack of coordination within the bloc and blamed the Congress for it. Rahul Gandhi, leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and senior Congress leader, had approached Lok Sabha member Sudip Bandyopadhyay of the Trinamool Congress to discuss his party's absence from the protests. Later, the Trinamool Congress and AAP also made a pitch for West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to lead the I.N.D.I.A. bloc.  End

 

Reported by Kuldeep Singh

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

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