The Congress on Sunday bluntly declared that Arvind Kejriwal had entered the Opposition camp to sabotage the unity efforts on behalf of the BJP, almost hinting that it would favour the exclusion of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) from any such future endeavours.
Congress general secretary Ajay Maken said: "Arvind Kejriwal has a nexus with the BJP. He has engaged in corruption and doesn’t want to go to jail. His two friends (Satyendra Jain and Manish Sisodia) are already in jail and he is about to be arrested. Kejriwal did not go to the Opposition meeting in Patna to help the efforts of forging unity. His intention was to create hurdles. His objective is to break the unity."
Having tried to disrupt the Patna meeting of 15 parties, the AAP had declared that it would not participate in any Opposition meeting unless the Congress extended its support to the fight against the ordinance on Delhi’s administrative arrangement brought by the Narendra Modi government. The mutual animosity means the Shimla meeting in July may have one party fewer than in Patna.
While the Congress and the AAP have a history of mutual distrust and animosity, Rahul Gandhi agreed not to resist the entry of any party into the Opposition camp to ensure that past baggage does not cripple future strategies. He has been insisting that protecting Indian democracy is a task that should be kept above petty partisan considerations. The Congress went along with other Opposition parties in accommodating the AAP despite strong reservations from the party's Delhi and Punjab units.
The AAP leaders, however, continued to attack the Congress, going to the extent of alleging a nexus with the BJP. But what seems to have ripped apart the veneer of tolerance is AAP chief spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar’s remark about Rahul being a liability in the Opposition camp. She tweeted: "If the country has to be saved, the Congress has to declare that they will not bet on Rahul Gandhi for the third time and won’t put pressure on the opposition parties to accept his leadership.”
The AAP chief spokesperson went so far as to say that “this is more important than even the task of protecting the Constitution”. This is probably the most contemptuous rejection of Rahul without any provocation as the Congress has made no attempt so far to project Rahul as the leader of the collective Opposition. Congress leaders insist the only reason for such a vitriolic attack is the sinister motive to disrupt Opposition unity.
A senior Congress leader told The Telegraph: “If Kejriwal himself has ambitions to become Prime Minister, the AAP could have projected him within its own forums or lobbied with the other Opposition parties to accept his leadership. But they know it is impossible. The real motive is to vitiate the atmosphere and derail the unity efforts. The Congress has been leading the fight against the Modi government and Rahul has been kicked out of Parliament for his uncompromising attitude. But this party is out to malign us on the instructions of the RSS-BJP.”
Although Rahul handled the situation at the Patna meeting with grace, other Congress leaders have now resolved to call Kejriwal’s bluff. It is well-known that the Delhi and Punjab leaders are opposed to Kejriwal. But Maken’s statement on Sunday was legitimised by the party’s communications chief Jairam Ramesh who retweeted the video in which Maken said Kejriwal was conspiring to break the Opposition unity to avoid going to jail.
Maken said if the AAP really wanted the Congress’s support on the ordinance, it would not have resorted to political blackmail and calumny. Referring to Kakkar’s remark, he recalled this was not the first time that AAP leaders had attacked the Congress and Rahul. Kejriwal branded every leader as corrupt during the Anna Hazare movement and made false claims about possessing evidence to vindicate his charge.
Punjab leader of the Opposition and senior Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa had responded to Kejriwal’s Patna drama by saying: “It has already been proved that the AAP is a B team of the BJP. In August 2019, the BJP-led central government turned the full state of Jammu and Kashmir into Union Territories. Kejriwal extended unconditional support to the BJP. Why didn’t he consider that an attack on federalism?”
Bajwa added: “As always, the Congress is committed to defending democratic rights and will keep on fighting to protect the Constitution. Meanwhile, the AAP’s nefarious agenda to sabotage Opposition unity stands exposed after the Patna meeting. Kejriwal has always adopted a double standard on federalism and democratic rights.”
Delhi Congress leaders are very clear in their mind that the ordinance brought by the Centre was in accordance with the Supreme Court order, which said the Union government could make a law instead of interfering through administrative diktats.
Senior Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit said it was wrong to compare Delhi with full-fledged states as the Constitution was clear about the demarcation of power and rights. He said Kejriwal wanted full control over the vigilance department only to save himself from the liquor scam and the palatial house he had built illegally.
