With assembly elections in Delhi just over a month away, the war of words between the AAP and the Congress, the two main constituents of the opposition Bharatiya Bloc, intensified on Thursday, leaving others in the bloc reeling.
Strongly objecting to AICC treasurer Ajay Maken’s attack on its leader Arvind Kejriwal, AAP asked the Congress to take action against him within 24 hours, failing which it would seek the Indian bloc parties to oust the Congress from the bloc.
AAP’s demand surprised constituents of the embattled alliance, which is already a divided house with leadership tussles. Taking a pessimistic view of the political developments in Delhi, the Bharat Bloc parties pointed out that the alliance would lose relevance without the Congress, but insisted that the Congress, as the single largest party, should heed the concerns of other parties. In fact, at least two parties demanded that the Congress convene a meeting of the India bloc to iron out differences.
The latest spat between AAP and Congress was over Maken’s comments against AAP national coordinator Kejriwal. AAP has already ruled out an alliance with the Congress in Delhi and both parties have announced more than half of their candidates for the Lok Sabha polls in alliance in Delhi and neighboring Haryana.
Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, Maken called Kejriwal “anti-national”, “devoid of any ideology except personal ambition”.
Only one word can describe Kejriwal in Delhi: ‘fake’; If there is a king of furjiwada (fraud) in the country, it is Kejriwal,” Maken said while releasing a white paper on ‘black work of the AAP government’ in Delhi, which he also applied to the BJP government. Centre.
On Thursday, AAP responded. Alleging “deep-rooted collusion” between the Congress and the BJP, Delhi Chief Minister Atishi and senior AAP leader Sanjay Singh, who had earlier held some backchannel talks for an alliance with the Congress,
accused Maken of “parroting BJP’s script to malign AAP leaders”.
While Singh said the Congress had “crossed all limits”, Atishi alleged that there was an “unholy alliance” between the Congress and the BJP and that the list of Congress candidates was “prepared by the BJP” and they were “also provided funds”. by them.”
Other constituents of the Bharat Bloc said that the time has come for the Congress to convene a meeting of the Bharat Bloc to discuss all issues. Pointing out that the India Bloc meeting was long overdue, Rajya Sabha MP Manoj K Jha told The Indian Express: “What the India Bloc needs with everything in mind, including this, is that we should have a meeting.”
Echoing Jha, CPI general secretary D Raja said the Congress, as the leader of the bloc, should reach out to other parties.
“Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge is the president of Bharat Bloc. He has to take into account all these developments. He has to reach out to all concerned parties. The seat distribution in the Lok Sabha elections and the subsequent Assembly elections did not go well… Mamata Banerjee publicly said that the Congress cannot lead.” We don’t know… Now AAP and Congress have announced that they will fight on their own. When such things happen… the president of India Bloc should pay attention and discuss with other parties,’ he said .
The SP has also criticized the Congress. Noting that the Congress is the largest party and the largest support for the alliance, SP spokesperson Ashutosh Verma said, “Since the Indian bloc is working for a larger cause, the Congress leadership has to interfere in the affairs of its state units… This has happened often. In state elections, the local leadership It has seen so much dominance that the India alliance has broken up.This has been seen in Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, etc. As a result of which BJP has won did not give and was making unnecessary comments.”
The Congress central leadership, at a huddle in Belagavi, is yet to respond to AAP’s aggressive attack. Atishi, for instance, alleged that the attack on Kejriwal indicated that the Congress had “coordinated with the BJP for the Delhi elections”.
“I want to ask the Congress: Have you ever made such allegations against a BJP leader? Have you raised such questions against them? Yet today, you choose to accuse AAP and Arvind Kejriwal of being anti-national,” she said.
“Actions speak louder than words. Yesterday, the Congress filed an FIR against Kejriwal and me… Has the Congress party ever filed a complaint or an FIR against the BJP? Not once… We have received reliable information that the BJP has defeated the Congress in Delhi. is funding the election campaigns of the candidates,” he alleged.
She alleged “Among the main beneficiaries is Sandeep Dixit, who is allegedly being financed by the BJP. Another example is Jangpura candidate Farhad Suri, who allegedly took crores of rupees from the BJP to support his campaign.
Singh said, “BJP has parroted the script, issuing statements at their behest and targeting AAP leaders at their behest. Yesterday, Maken called Kejriwal, Delhi’s most popular leader and the nation’s most admired leader, who leads our party, an ‘anti-national’. Crossed all limits. If Arvind Kejriwal is anti-national then tell me how he has improved education, health care, electricity, water and employment for the people of Delhi.”
“Until today, neither Ajay Maken nor the Congress has dared to call a BJP leader in Delhi anti-national. But now they are accusing us and Arvind Kejriwal of being anti-national. To add insult to injury, I saw yesterday they filed an FIR against Arvind Kejriwal,” he said, questioning why the Congress had targeted the former Delhi chief minister who had campaigned for Congress candidates in Delhi and Chandigarh.
He also recalled the Aam Aadmi Party’s efforts to ally with the Congress in the Haryana elections.
“We tried our best to join forces and fight together, but the Congress did not like it. Even as we contested the elections independently…we refrained from making any objectionable or critical remarks against the Congress or its leaders,” he said, adding, “The Congress is fielding candidates whose sole objective is Aam Aadmi. is to harm the party”.
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