‘AAP unreliable': Congress takes '40% leaders in jail' jibe amid INDIA bloc rift

Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday said the Congress had become history in Delhi and Punjab.

New Delhi: The Congress on Tuesday returned AAP leader Bhagwant Mann's barbs with an equally savage attack saying AAP would be known as the party found in the Tihar jail. A day after Mann's 'Ek Thi Congress' remark, former Dellhi MP Sandeep Dikshit said AAP is "unreliable" as an ally and its supremo Arvind Kejriwal doesn't understand alliance politics.

Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann had taken a jibe at Congress (File)

He also put a question mark on whether Congress and AAP -- INDIA bloc partners -- will contest the 2024 general elections in alliance in Punjab and Delhi.

"Only AAP knows whether they are part of the INDIA alliance or not. We've been constantly saying that they (AAP) are unreliable. Unfortunately, Arvind Kejriwal does not really understand what alliance politics is. If they (AAP) want to be a part of the INDIA alliance, they'll have to work with other political parties," he told PTI.

Referring to senior AAP leaders' incarceration over the liquor policy scam, Dikshit said: "In the coming time, mothers will say that there was a party which can now be found in Tihar jail. Tell me which party has 40% of its leadership in jail and the rest are ready to go?"

Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday said the Congress had become history in Delhi and Punjab.

"In Punjab and Delhi, mothers can tell the world's shortest story to their children - Ek Thi Cong (there was once a Congress)," he quipped at a press conference here when asked about the reported reluctance of state Congress leaders to have an alliance with AAP.

AAP and Congress leaders have made their apprehensions over the alliance public on several occasions. The two parties are bitter rivals in Delhi and Punjab. However, they are also a part of the INDIA bloc -- an alliance of 28 Opposition parties against the BJP.

TMC chief Mamata Banerjee has also indicated her willingness for her party to contest the elections alone in West Bengal.

The Aam Aadmi Party had dislodged the Congress from power in Delhi and Punjab. They had also protested against the Congress government at the Centre over corruption between 2010 and 2012.