Former Union minister Milind Deora, one of Rahul Gandhi’s closest aides, has come under fire from Congress leaders for his repeated glorification of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal after the Aam Aadmi Party’s stunning victory in the Assembly elections a few days ago.

Congress leaders in Delhi were so incensed that they asked Deora to quit the party before promoting Kejriwal on the basis of the AAP leader’s boasts, arguing that the Mumbai leader’s series of tweets almost looked like attention-seeking theatrics.

While most Delhi leaders are angry, some candidates took to social media to condemn him.

Deora’s wasn’t just a show of courtesy, congratulating the rival on his victory, what even Rahul did. He not only tweeted thrice, he also posted a video of Kejriwal making tall claims about his achievements. Then he locked horns with party colleagues who registered their objection.

Deora started with this tweet soon after the Delhi result: “And the winner is … bijli, sadak & paani! Congratulations Arvind Kejriwalji on being re-elected Delhi’s Chief Minister. Best wishes & Godspeed.”

In his second tweet he wished better cooperation between the Centre and the state government.

In the third, he uploaded the Kejriwal video with this message: “Sharing a lesser known & welcome fact — the Kejriwal-led Delhi government doubled its revenues to Rs 60,000 crore & maintained a revenue surplus over the last five years. Food for thought: Delhi is now one of India’s most fiscally prudent governments.”

This left Delhi leaders seething as they have been insisting that Kejriwal fooled people with false propaganda and his claims were more a public gimmick than performance.

Ajay Maken Telegraph file picture

One leader told The Telegraph: “What does he want — to finish off the Congress once and for all? We haven’t won any seat but we are an active Opposition and exposing the falsehood of Kejriwal’s deceptive politics is our only hope. Our own leaders are legitimising his false boasts. They forget the Congress too has a wonderful track record in Delhi.”

Although most leaders refrained from any public attack on Deora, only because he is perceived to be close to Rahul, former Delhi chief Ajay Maken tweeted: “Brother, you want to leave Congress, please do. Then propagate half-baked facts! However, let me share even lesser known facts: 1997-98: BE (Revenue) – Rs 4073 crore. 2013-14L BE (Revenue) Rs 37,459 crore. Grew at 14.87% during Congress governments. 2015-16 BE (budgetary Estimate) Rs 41,129 crore. 2019-20 BE Rs 60,000 crore grew at 9.90% during AAP government.”

Deora wasn’t prepared to avoid a public spat and hit back: “Brother I would never undermine Sheila Dikshit’s stellar performance as Delhi Chief Minister. That’s your specialty. But it’s never too late to change! Instead of advocating an alliance with AAP, if only you had highlighted Sheilaji’s achievements, Congress would have been in power today.”

He had targeted even Delhi in-charge P.C. Chacko for stating the fact that the Congress’s decline started under Dikshit herself.

He responded to Chacko, saying: “Sheila Dikshit was a remarkable politician & administrator. During her tenure as Chief Minister, Delhi was transformed & Congress was stronger than ever. Unfortunate to see her being blamed after her death. She dedicated her life to Congress & the people of Delhi.”

Deora’s combative posturing is being seen as his readiness to look for greener pastures. Congress leaders are convinced that Rahul will never appreciate anybody, no matter how friendly he or she is, defaming or weakening the Congress in this manner. The outburst of Maken, who is also very close to Rahul, is being seen as a reflection of the unease in the highest echelons of the party over such behaviour by somebody who has been part of the inner coterie.

The party’s high-profile candidate, Alka Lamba, tweeted: “Come in the party on father’s name, get the ticket to contest without any work, win in Congress wave and become central minister on debut. When the time to fight on your strength comes, cry off. Then fight for a good post in party, then abuse the party and hail others while playing guitar.”

Deora, who loves playing guitar, is the son of former Union minister Murli Deora. Ironically, Kejriwal had filed an FIR against his father alleging corruption and the Congress had at that time fought for him.

Another tweet of Lamba was blunt: “Only those leaders have the right to raise their voice or aspire for party posts who abandon their comforts to fight in the streets for the Congress like Priyanka Gandhi is doing. Others should keep their mouth shut.”

The anger against elite leaders who refuse to work on the ground is rising in the party. Another candidate who lost in the Delhi elections, Naresh Kumar, said: “We can’t be happy only by disapproving the utterances of people like Deora. The leadership should also decide whether they want to revive the party with such opportunists or with those who give their blood and toil for the party, day in, day out for decades. Reliance on these drawing-room politicians has ruined the Congress.”