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The Congress role in the defeat of Aam Aadmi Party in the recently concluded Delhi Assembly election is ballooning before the Opposition bloc INDIA, which Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy described today as "fractured". After INDIA ally and Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah's "Aur lado apas mein (keep fighting among yourselves)" jibe, Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena has pointed fingers at the Congress and AAP for the Delhi defeat. And in Bengal, concerns are surfacing in Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress over a Congress action replay in the state elections due next year.
"The disunity and discord among opposition parties in Delhi and Maharashtra directly aided the BJP in its victory," read an editorial Sena UBT mouthpiece "Saamna".
"In Delhi, both the AAP and the Congress fought to destroy each other, making the victory easier for the BJP. If this continues, why even form alliances? Just fight to your heart's content... Just keep fighting among yourself," added the Saamna editorial.
The Aam Aadmi Party, born out of Anna Hazare's anti-corruption movement that was instrumental in ending the Congress rule in Delhi and the Centre, grew at the cost of the Grand Old Party. So it raised eyebrows when the need to keep the BJP out got both parties on the same platform ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
The polls over, both parties had reverted to their antagonistic stance, which only escalated when the votes in Delhi were at stake. It came as no surprise that the Congress hugely ate into AAP's non-BJP votes that contributed to AAP's defeat in a number of seats.
Not only that, despite the Congress's zero score in Delhi in the third straight election, leaders of the party, in public and private, expressed satisfaction over AAP's defeat, adding to the dismay in the Opposition camp.
Since the election, many had pointed out that had AAP and the Congress joined hands instead, their combined strength would have been enough to keep the BJP out of power in Delhi yet again.
The first to point this out was Omar Abdullah, who is in alliance with the Congress in his state with his "Aur lado" post.
Senior Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav accused the Congress of having a "bad attitude" and questioned why they were attacking AAP.
The Congress has shrugged off the accusations, arguing that it was AAP which did not want any alliance and Arvind Kejriwal had spelt it out ahead of the election while announcing candidates for Delhi's 70 seats.
In Bengal, meanwhile, there is concern whether the Congress would cut votes in the coming election, which, many say would be a tough one for Mamata Banerjee.
Sources said Ms Banerjee has assured her party MLAs that the Congress is not a challenge in West Bengal and the Trinamool Congress is enough to take on the BJP in the state.
Sources said she also remarked that AAP did not help the Congress in Haryana and Congress did not help the AAP in Delhi.