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In a massive blow to Opposition unity, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) today said it would ask parties in the INDIA alliance to remove Congress from the bloc if the Grand Old Party does not act against its Delhi leader Ajay Maken.
Delhi Chief Minister Atishi and AAP's Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh today accused the Congress of helping the BJP ahead of the Delhi Assembly polls due in February. "Congress is doing everything to ensure that the BJP benefits in the election. Ajay Maken reads the BJP script, makes statements at the BJP's behest, and targets AAP leaders on BJP's instructions. And yesterday, he crossed all limits and called our leader Arvind Kejriwal anti-nation," Mr Singh said.
The Congress or Ajay Maken have never called any BJP leader in Delhi "anti-national", Mr Singh said.
The massive face-off comes months after the AAP and Congress contested the Lok Sabha polls in Delhi in alliance. During the general election, leaders of both parties had campaigned for each other's candidates. The efforts, however, came to naught because the BJP won all seven seats in the capital.
"Arvind Kejriwal had campaigned for Congress candidates in Delhi. He campaigned for Congress in Chandigarh too. AAP repeatedly stands with the Congress on issues in Parliament. And you are calling our leader anti-national, Youth Congress is registering FIR against him?"
Mr Singh then referred to the Haryana Assembly polls and said the AAP had tried its best to ally with Congress. "But the Congress disagreed. So we fought the election but did not utter an inappropriate word for Congress or its leaders. Show us one statement," he said.
The Rajya Sabha MP said "all limits have been crossed". "The audacity Ajay Maken has show, I demand that the Congress acts against him within 24 hours. Otherwise we will approach the partners in INDIA alliance and seek removal of Congress from the bloc," he said.
Chief Minister Atishi said the Congress's actions and words make it clear that it has "tied up" with the BJP for the Delhi election. "Has the Congress ever filed a police complaint against BJP? No. But they are doing so against AAP leaders."
Delhi Congress yesterday released a 12-point "white paper" targeting the AAP and BJP for mismanagement of pollution, civic facilities and law and order in Delhi.
Speaking to the media, senior Congress leader Ajay Maken said AAP came to power riding on an anti-corruption movement but has failed to set up a Janlokpal in Delhi. "If there is one word to describe former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal here then it would be Farziwal," he said. "If anyone is the king of fraud in the entire country then it is Kejriwal and that is why we have come here with a white paper on the Kejriwal government and also on the BJP government at the Centre," Mr Maken added.
AAP, despite being part of the INDIA Opposition bloc, are arch-rivals in Delhi and Punjab. In Delhi, the Arvind Kejriwal-led party had unseated Congress Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and ended the Grand Old Party's 15-year rule in the national capital.