aap-congress-battle-intensifies-across-punjab-delhi

Battle lines seem to have already been drawn between the Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress across Punjab and Delhi.

 

While in Punjab, the Congress is the principal opposition party against the ruling AAP, in Delhi it does not have much stakes as of now. 

 

But it certainly appears to be looking forward to a comeback, at least in terms of vote share. 

 

While the AAP had sought action against Ajay Maken for his derogatory remarks against its chief Arvind Kejriwal and threatened to seek expulsion of the Congress from the INDIA bloc, the Congress treasurer on Saturday reiterated his remarks that Kejriwal should be described as ‘Farziwal’ for making false promises. He also reiterated that Kejriwal was an “anti-national”, which, he said, he will explain and elaborate at a press conference on Sunday. 

 

On Saturday a battery of senior Punjab Congress leaders addressed a press conference in Delhi’s Vijay Chowk in presence of Ajay Maken and the Delhi Congress president Devender Yadav, who also happens to be party in charge for Punjab.

 

The Punjab leaders cautioned people of Delhi for, what they called, bogus and fraudulent promises of the AAP and its leader Kejriwal. They specifically questioned the ₹2,100 monthly payment promise for the women of Delhi. 

 

They reminded the AAP that three years ago, it had made a similar promise to the women of Punjab saying if they came to power, every woman in Punjab will get ₹1,000 every month. The AAP government has not been able to implement this scheme so far, although it has completed almost three years of its tenure. 

 

Not just that, a group of women Congress workers also staged a protest outside Kejriwal’s residence in Delhi for the same reason that the AAP government had not fulfilled its promise of paying ₹1,000 each to every woman in the state. There are about one crore women in Punjab. The expenditure on this scheme comes to about ₹1,000 crore every month, which no state, particularly one like Punjab, which is financially drained, can afford to pay. 

 

The Congress and the AAP fought the General Elections in Delhi and Haryana together as part of the INDIA bloc. The two parties, despite being in alliance, drew a complete blank for the third consecutive time in the national capital. The alliance did not work at the ground level, since the Congress and the AAP workers have been traditionally fierce rivals to each other. 

 

As the alliance did not work during the parliament elections, both the parties realised that there was no point in carrying it forward to the assembly elections. A triangular contest may favour the BJP this time, although in all the three previous elections it has always been a triangular contest only. As the Congress fortunes nosedived massively, it provided added advantage to the AAP in the last two elections, which almost swept both the polls.

 

The AAP is faced with strong anti-incumbency. A significant number of Muslim voters is believed to be inclined towards the Congress this time than the AAP, in view of Rahul Gandhi’s unambiguous stand on minority issues. The Congress has also appointed Qazi Muhammad Nizamuddin a senior party leader from Uttarakhand as the party in-charge for Delhi. The message has not been lost on anyone, particularly the strong Muslim community of Delhi. 

 

The Congress’ robust opposition to the AAP also comes from the realisation within the party that it will have to treat both the BJP as well as the AAP in the same way. In the past, the Congress, in order to tame the BJP, condoned the rise of AAP and other regional parties, at the cost of its own interests and survival. This was a political suicide in the long term. 

 

Now that the party has realized it should better strengthen itself and its cadres irrespective of which party wins, it will be in its long-term interest. Whether it is the AAP or the Bharatiya Janata Party that wins, the Congress has no benefit except the consolation of ensuring the BJP’s defeat. This may provide a momentary advantage to the BJP, but in the long term it will serve the Congress in good stead. 

 

In Punjab the Congress and the AAP are fierce rivals to each other. Several Congress leaders were booked and jailed for alleged corruption in Punjab, which the party described as sheer vendetta. That hostility continues to persist in Punjab and has now started moving to Delhi.

 

With Ajay Maken continuing with his stringent stance against the AAP, and Kejriwal in particular, it is obvious that in Delhi the rivalry will be as fierce in Delhi as it is in Punjab. 

 

The AAP had threatened to seek Congress expulsion from the INDIA bloc in case the party did not take action against Maken. Leave aside action, Maken has reiterated and reaffirmed his charges against Kejriwal. This leaves little room for the AAP. It will have to press for the Congress’ expulsion, which obviously is highly unlikely given the number of Lok Sabha seats it has. Congress is the biggest party in the alliance with 100 Lok Sabha MPs, while the AAP has just three. 

 

In order to save face, the AAP may eventually walk out of the INDIA bloc. Otherwise also, the INDIA bloc has lost its significance for the time being. IN any case it was an alliance specifically stitched together for the Lok Sabha elections in an attempt to prevent the BJP from winning a third term. That did not happen, although BJP’s strength fell by about 60 seats. It still managed to form the government with the support of allies at the centre.

 

Although the Congress does not expect to do much in Delhi in the ensuing assembly elections, it hopes to improve its vote share. If it manages to cut into the vote bank of the AAP, it can expect to make further gains in due course of time. After all, AAP has primarily taken away the Congress vote bank. Their fortunes are inversely proportional to each other. 

 

Delhi elections will be quite interesting to watch as for the first time, the Congress is fiercely opposing the AAP, while keeping the BJP in the background. This is quite understandable as the state of Delhi is being ruled by the AAP and not the BJP. Not unexpectedly, the AAP leaders have started accusing Ajay Maken and another senior party leader Sandeep Dikshit of doing the BJP’s bidding.