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Speaking to News18, a senior party leader said the AAP has never considered Congress competition in Delhi, so there is no point in engaging with it
In the last two assembly polls, held in 2015 and 2020, AAP had a clean sweep as it bagged more than 60 seats out of 70. (PTI)
The Aam Aadmi Party and its chief Arvind Kejriwal have decided to not engage with the Congress in the run-up to the Delhi elections despite the Grand Old Party training guns on the AAP.
On Monday, as Rahul Gandhi started the poll campaign in Delhi, he attacked Kejriwal, highlighting the pollution, corruption and inflation in the Capital.
Soon, Kejriwal, in a post on social media platform X, said Gandhi had abused him, but he would not comment on his remarks. “His fight is to save Congress, my fight is to save the country,” Kejriwal posted in Hindi.
Speaking to News18, a senior party leader said the AAP has never considered Congress competition in Delhi, so there is no point in engaging with it.
“Congress is nowhere in the race in Delhi elections. Why should we indulge in something that is not impacting us? The fight has always been about stopping the BJP and improving the living standards in the city. Nothing else matters,” they said.
Although the party has said it will not engage in attacking the Congress, it has been vocal against the Grand Old Party. In the last few weeks, AAP has claimed a number of times that the BJP and Congress have an undeclared alliance for Delhi polls.
Last week, when BJP’s Ramesh Bidhuri used derogatory comments against chief minister Atishi, party leader Sanjay Singh criticised the Congress, saying it was shameful that two senior leaders from their own party — Ajay Maken and Sandeep Dikshit — have not spoken a single word condemning Bidhuri’s remarks. He called their silence ‘wrong’ and questioned their intentions.
“Doesn’t it make it clear that Ajay Maken and Sandeep Dikshit are closely connected with the BJP? They have such deep relations that they don’t have the courage to utter a single word against Ramesh Bidhuri,” Singh had said.
Last month also, the AAP raised similar allegations against Congress when they attacked Dikshit and Maken for filing official complaints against the AAP over a range of issues.
“Congress is fielding candidates whose sole purpose is to harm the Aam Aadmi Party. Who is behind fielding Sandeep Dikshit against Arvind Kejriwal? Who is arranging his campaign against Kejriwal? At this point, all limits have been crossed,” he had said.
This is not the first time the two parties have indulged in a tug-of-war.
Even though the two were part of the INDIA bloc, they could not come on the same page for an alliance in Delhi.
The city will go for polls on February 5 and the counting of votes will take place on February 8. In the last two assembly polls, held in 2015 and 2020, AAP had a clean sweep as it bagged more than 60 seats out of 70. The remaining went to the BJP while Congress got zero seats in both the polls.
