Reiterating his party’s stand on no post poll alliance with the AAP, Delhi Congress President and party’s Badli candidate Devendra Yadav claimed that the AAP is making accusations against his party because they are disgruntled over Congress going full throttle in the upcoming assembly elections while calling BJP ‘not the natural choice of people in Delhi’.
Yadav was among the few candidates who won in 2013 assembly elections from Badli when the party managed to secure only 8 seats and AAP rose to power. Claiming that people in Delhi want to vote for someone other than BJP, he said that AAP came in power after the Congress ruled Delhi for 15 years, when there was huge anti-incumbency against the party and people trusted AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal.
“There is a huge anti-incumbency since AAP had been in power for the last 10 years and promised big things that they have not been able to deliver be it electricity or water. Whatever schemes they are promising are not going well with the people whereas, in contrast, our schemes we have launched with credible faces who have delivered promises in Congress ruled states,” Yadav stated. The Congress leader also emphasized that the BJP is not seen as the "natural choice" by the people of Delhi.
The Delhi Congress chief took over the leadership after the sudden exit of his predecessor and former Delhi Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely, who left Congress to join BJP just before the crucial Lok Sabha elections. Since then, Yadav has taken many initiatives including organising the month long Delhi Nyay Yatra to rejig the ground level cadre.
“We went full offensive since the Lok Sabha. No one could have ever thought of organizing a Yatra in every assembly constituency the kind we did. We started thinking more about people-oriented issues. Moreover, this led to the anti-incumbency of Delhi government coming to the fore,” the two-time MLA from Badli said.
He added that this led to them convincing party’s senior leadership that the Congress has to contest this election with full force independently, affirming that there will be no post poll alliance and the party will not repeat the same mistake they did in 2013, reiterating AICC Treasurer Ajay Maken’s stand.
Although, while many eagerly anticipated senior leaders like Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi to join the yatra, they were a no show. However, the 52-year-old leader said that they would have been in it if there weren’t crucial elections happening in Jharkhand and Maharashtra.
Moreover, with Congress being wiped out from the political landscape of Delhi for about a decade now, the elections are proving to be a do or die situation for the party.
“This election is very important to Congress especially in the pretext that we have been losing the last two elections consecutively and not been able to secure even one seat. So yes, this is important and we are putting our best front whether it's in campaign, whether it's in the organization, whether it is in the form of a candidates,” he asserted.
However, this has disgruntled their ‘friends-turned-foe’ with the AAP making serious allegations against Congress of repeating BJP’s narrative. “I believe that AAP is on the brink of ending. People do not realise it especially since the data is now supporting them but it supported us in 2013 also. People are so angry with them that the AAP chief has stopped going to the field. They are getting disgruntled and retaliating against us because they know we are putting our best front forward and they realise that this is going to damage their prospects. Even retaining their vote share would be a big thing,” the senior Congress leader added.
On INDIA bloc leaders including Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav and Trinamool Congrrss supremo Mamata Banerjee supporting AAP in the elections, Yadav claimed, “INDIA bloc is on the national level and has nothing to do with state politics. And there is no official statement by the parties. If anyone wants to support anyone on an individual level, it is their choice.”
With the elections approaching closer, the AAP and BJP have attacked each other over voters with the former alleging large scam by addition and deletion of voters in New Delhi assembly constituency while the BJP charging the ruling party with sheltering Bangladeshi and Rohingya for their vote bank.
Yadav, however, remarked that the BJP is insulting our border forces by saying that there is an infiltration by Bangladeshi.
On his opponents from the seat, he cheekily replied, “They are good candidates from their party and even better for me.”