AAP-Cong Delhi face-off aheadof polls puts INDIA bloc on edge

AAP threatened to push Congress out of the INDIA bloc unless it acted against Ajay Maken, escalating tensions within the opposition coalition.

The Aam Aadmi Party threatened to push members of the INDIA bloc of opposition parties to expel the Congress from the grouping, if the party did not act against its senior leader Ajay Maken who criticised the Capital’s ruling party.

AAP-Cong Delhi face-off aheadof polls puts INDIA bloc on edge

The threat was articulated at a press conference held by Delhi chief minister Atishi and AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh who lashed out at the Congress, laying bare the deep schism within the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) .

The Congress hit back, saying the AAP was trying to “salvage its shattered image ahead of the Delhi elections”.

The AAP’s public statements add to a growing chorus for a shake-up within the 24-member INDIA bloc since the Congress’s defeat in the Harayana elections and the assembly polls in Maharashtra, where the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi was relegated to just 50 seats in the 288-seat assembly. Over the last two months, a string of parties --- including the Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party, NCP (SP), Shiv Sena (UBT), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), and National Conference -- have spoken out about the Congress’s leadership position in the bloc.

Matters came to a head on Thursday when Atishi and Singh accused the Congress of colluding with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to “harm the AAP’s prospects” in the elections.

“Ajay Maken on Wednesday called Arvind Kejriwal anti-national,” said Atishi. “If the Congress does not take action against Ajay Maken in the next 24 hours, we will ask other members of the INDIA bloc to remove the party from the alliance,” added Singh, articulating the AAP’s sharpest attack yet against the Congress yet.

The Delhi Congress on Wednesday attacked the BJP and AAP, unveiling a booklet accusing the two parties of mismanagement and unkept promises.“I was never convinced that Kejriwal could be trusted. He will do anything to fulfil his ambitions; he lacks ideology and conviction,” Maken had said.

Later that evening, the Delhi Youth Congress filed a police complaint against Kejriwal and the AAP for “misleading voters and for committing fraud”.

Atishi said on Thursday that the behaviour was unbecoming of a fellow member of the INDIA bloc.

“Have they ever filed FIRs against BJP leaders? We have got to know that the BJP is also funding the campaign of Congress leaders like Sandeep Dikshit and Farhad Suri,” she alleged.

Dikshit, former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit’s son, will face-off against Kejriwal from the New Delhi assembly constituency, a candidature that the AAP has previously criticised. Suri will take on former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia from Jangpura.

“It appears the Congress candidate list is being prepared in the BJP office. Such people are being fielded with the sole goal of damaging the AAP candidate’s prospects,” said Singh.

The parliamentarian also said the AAP tried to form an alliance with the Congress in the Haryana elections “till the last moment”. “The Congress was not ready to fight the election with us. We contested the Haryana polls but never abused their leaders,” he added.

Atishi also said that the Congress should not have tied up with the AAP for this summer’s Lok Sabha elections if it thought Kejriwal was anti-national. The AAP contested four of the city’s seven Lok Sabha seats and the Congress got three. The BJP swept all seven seats.

The AAP has been in power in Delhi since 2013, and its rise has largely come at the cost of the Congress, which has not had a representative in the Vidhan Sabha in 10 years. The AAP won 62 of Delhi’s 70 seats in the February 2020 polls, and the BJP won eight.

Senior Delhi Congress leaders on Thursday doubled down on their charges against the AAP.

“The AAP used to make allegations against Sharad Pawar, Lalu Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav. But today, they are aligned with them only. The AAP used to say that Congress has no base in Delhi, so why are they so rattled then?” Dikshit told news agency ANI.

Later, he also met Delhi lieutenant governor VK Saxena and demanded an investigation into the AAP’s contentious Mahila Samman Yojana proposal, which offers ₹2,100 per month to women.

Suri said, “They make baseless statements, get up every morning, invent a new lie, repeat it throughout the day, and divert people’s attention.”

Rumblings within the opposition coalition have amplified since electoral setbacks in Haryana in October and Maharashtra last month. The controversy escalated when Banerjee said she was willing to lead the Opposition coalition if given an opportunity.

“I formed the INDIA bloc. Now it is up to those leading the front to manage it. If they can’t run the show, what can I do?” she told News18 Bangla in an interview earlier this month.

Since then, several opposition parties have appeared open to discussing Banerjee’s bid.

Samajwadi Party leader in the Rajya Sabha, Ram Gopal Yadav, said on December 8 that his party was not averse to discussing Banerjee’s proposal. “There should be a discussion on what she said. As of now, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge heads the Opposition alliance,” he said.

Jammu & Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah said that Banerjee could claim leadership of the INDIA bloc and said there would be a discussion.

NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar also acknowledged the leadership potential of Banerjee, emphasising her prominence as a national leader.

RJD chief and former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad, as well as his son and senior party leader Tejashwi Yadav have also thrown their weight behind Banerjee.

Shiv Sena (UBT) parliamentarian Sanjay Raut has also indicated that his party was open to discussing the idea.

“All constituents of the alliance are willing to have a discussion on the issue,” he told reporters this month.

On Thursday, members of the alliance were more equivocal.

The Samajwadi Party said the exchanges between the AAP and Congress were a part of “competitive politics”.

“The interplay between these two parties does not affect the alliance as a whole, which remains focused on national politics. The SP will present its position at the next meeting of the alliance,” said party spokesperson Ghanshyam Tiwari.

Communist Party of India spokesperson Sandosh Kumar said, “Whatever Ajay Maken has said was deplorable and could have been avoided. Arvind Kejriwal is an integral part of the INDIA bloc and the Congress leader’s statement would only help the BJP.”