Senior Congress leader Ajay Maken on Saturday said that his party wanted to form an alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for the upcoming Delhi assembly elections, but former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal scuttled the proposition by declaring that the AAP will contest the polls alone.
The former Union minister also claimed that whenever Kejriwal makes electoral progress, it helps the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Addressing a press conference in the new Congress headquarters Indira Bhavan, Maken, a staunch critic of Kejriwal, said that the Congress wanted to form an alliance with AAP for both the Haryana and Delhi elections.
“In two places, in Haryana and Delhi, we wanted to have an alliance with AAP. But after coming out of jail [in September], Kejriwal announced that AAP will contest in all 90 seats [in Haryana] when our talks were at an advance stage,” Maken said.
Putting the blame for a failure in stitching a pact for Delhi on Kejriwal, Maken added, “After the Lok Sabha election, Kejriwal himself said we will fight alone in Delhi.”
The Congress and the AAP had entered into a seat pact for the Lok Sabha elections in Delhi, Haryana and Gujarat. While the Congress won five seats in Haryana, the alliance failed to secure any seat in Delhi.
Pointing that whichever party wins the majority of Lok Sabha seats in Delhi, goes on to rule the country, Maken said, “When [former Delhi chief minister] Sheila Dikshit was here, seven out of seven Lok Sabha seats belonged to the Congress. We had stopped the BJP in Delhi and as we know, whoever wins in Delhi, wins the Lok Sabha election. But ever since the AAP came to power, BJP has been winning seven out of seven seats in Delhi and retaining power at the Centre.”
The Congress leader also said that when Kejriwal makes electoral progress, it helps the BJP.
“At the national level, a strong Congress is required to combat the BJP. In the coming days, the Congress has to get stronger. People should realise that by making the Congress weaker, you can’t fight against the BJP. The AAP has been a failure to stop the BJP,” he said — a veiled response to key INDIA bloc parties such as the Samajwadi Party and Trinamool Congress announcing their support for the AAP in the Delhi polls.
The AAP and BJP did not respond to HT’s request for a comment on the allegation.
