Ahead of the Opposition bloc INDIA meeting next week, there are rumblings within the Congress whether it “politically erred” in extending unconditional support to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Parliament over the contentious Delhi Services Bill against the wish of large number of senior party leaders who protested the move till last moment.
What has now irked the grand old party is the AAP vehemently pitching for poll battle in the Congress strongholds of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh and attacking the Congress on a continuous basis even though the Congress did damage control a week ago to pacify the AAP when a couple of Delhi Congress leaders claimed that the party has asked leaders to prepare to fight all seven Lok Sabha seats in the national Capital.
When contacted some of the newly appointed Congress Working Committee members told The Pioneer that the AAP electoral ventures had certainly damaged the Congress in last year Assembly elections in Uttarakhand, Gujarat and Goa.
Sources said that Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, who was in the national Capital on Thursday, and former Madhya Pradesh CM Digvijay Singh had drawn the high command’s attention to the AAP’s campaign against Congress leaders and workers in both the States which may dent the party’s prospects.
The Congress, which is in power in Chhattisgarh and was in power in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh until a faction joined to support the BJP, is confident of retaining the same voting percentage in the Assembly polls scheduled later this year.
“While AAP threatened to boycott the Mumbai meeting of INDIA bloc scheduled next week, it did similar arm twisting ahead of the first meeting of Opposition leaders at Patna when they wanted a commitment from the Congress to support in Parliament on Delhi Services Bill,” said a senior Congress leader.
“It was only after the party high command was convinced by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee to take on board AAP led by Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, the party which has presence in two States with no Lok Sabha MP, is in INDIA block,” rued a very senior Congress leader.
Several State units of the Congress and significantly Delhi and Punjab units many times conveyed to the Congress high command against any format of alliances with the AAP. Former Union Minister Ajay Maken, who also served as Delhi Congress chief and a Minister in Sheila Dikshit Government, former Delhi MP Sandeep Dikshit, Delhi unit leader Alka Lamba and newly inducted part of the CWC Committee hav alongwith several others always opposed any truck with AAP. A former Delhi University Students Union President Lamba was AAP MLA and rejoined the Congress couple of years ago.
Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Assembly, Congress’ Partap Singh Bajwa, early this week dismissed any collaboration with the AAP. “We don’t have any kind of relation with the AAP. We have stated it earlier and reiterate,” Bajwa said.
