Why Congress Should Not Join Hands with Aam Aadmi Party of Kejriwal
Why Congress Should Not Join Hands with Aam Aadmi Party of Kejriwal
The Congress workers in Delhi and Punjab will get demoralized as they have been warning the top leadership of the adverse consequences of any alliance with AAP.
By Rakesh Raman
A new controversy has erupted in the political circles as Congress is giving contradictory statements about its future alliance with Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
In a loose rhetoric, a Congress spokesperson in Delhi said on August 16 that the party will contest at all the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi. This statement is at variance with the decision of the top leadership in Congress, which is trying to rope in Delhi chief minister (CM) Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP in a big alliance of different political outfits. Later, other Congress leaders refuted the statement of their own spokesperson.
Despite multiple corruption cases against AAP leaders, Congress is trying desperately to have a partnership with AAP in a recently formed I.N.D.I.A. group of 26 opposition parties.
Although the local Congress leaders in Delhi vehemently oppose their party’s decision of joining hands with AAP, it is believed that Congress top brass including president Mallikarjun Kharge and leader Rahul Gandhi are more concerned about the unity of the I.N.D.I.A. alliance.
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A senior Delhi Congress leader Ajay Maken, for example, had said in June that Kejriwal will soon be jailed for his involvement in massive corruption. In a long tweet, Maken said that like a couple of Kejriwal’s colleagues who are already in jail for their acts of corruption, Kejriwal will also be going to jail.
Many Congress leaders in Delhi believe that support to AAP means support to corruption. However, the senior Congress leadership neglected the sentiment of Delhi Congress leaders and workers to join hands with Kejriwal’s AAP which is facing multiple corruption cases.
A number of complaints have been filed against Kejriwal and his AAP colleagues in different corruption cases. These cases include Delhi liquor scandal, school construction scam, money laundering cases, housing society scam, and misappropriation of huge public money by Kejriwal on his house renovation.
Along with Kejriwal, the other AAP politicians whose names appear in the investigating reports of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) are Satyendar Jain, Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh, and Raghav Chadha. Jain and Sisodia have already been jailed for their acts of corruption.
It is expected that an AAP woman politician who loudly spreads lies in the so-called press conferences attended by naive journalists will soon be called for interrogation by the law-enforcement agencies.
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As corruption in Delhi Government of Kejriwal is increasing exponentially, the Central government of prime minister (PM) Narendra Modi has passed a new law in parliament to stop corruption of Kejriwal and AAP.
But the top leadership of Congress wants to defeat Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the upcoming Lok Sabha election by hook or by crook. Congress believes that if it shares seats with opposition parties, it will be able to defeat BJP in one-to-one contests with BJP candidates.
So like in other states, Congress wants to have a seat-sharing arrangement with AAP on Delhi’s seven Lok Sabha seats. However, the Congress decision will jeopardize the party’s chances of revival in Delhi and Punjab where AAP rules and Congress and AAP are at daggers drawn in these two states.
Obviously, the Congress workers in Delhi and Punjab will also get demoralized as they have been warning the top leadership of the adverse consequences of any alliance with AAP.
While Congress has taken a risk to agree on a dirty deal with AAP, it is not certain if Kejriwal will support Congress in the Lok Sabha election because Kejriwal and other AAP leaders are known for their immoral behavior.
As a result of the unholy alliance between AAP and Congress, the chances of the joint opposition group winning the Lok Sabha election have also gone down drastically. It will help Modi and BJP win the 2024 Lok Sabha election easily.
So, it will not be a right decision of Congress to have any partnership with AAP which is known for its corrupt practices.
By Rakesh Raman, who is a national award-winning journalist and social activist. He is the founder of the humanitarian organization RMN Foundation which is working in diverse areas to help the disadvantaged and distressed people in the society. He has also launched the “Power Play: Lok Sabha Election 2024 in India” editorial section to cover the news, events, and other developments related to the 2024 election.
