‘The AAP leadership knows that it needs to go along with Congress and support it against the BJP’.
NEW DELHI: There is a clear message from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which triumphed in Delhi and more recently in Punjab, that it is going soft on the Congress. Though the grand old party still remains the main opposition to AAP in Punjab, it has not stopped Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal from supporting Rahul Gandhi in the Surat court judgement against Rahul Gandhi.
According to sources, the soft approach from the Delhi-based party did not come suddenly. After the Gujarat elections, it is believed that the AAP had figured out that to grow in the national political space, it cannot be at loggerheads with the two biggest national parties (BJP and Congress).
An AAP leader said, “The AAP leadership knows that if it has to grow, it needs to go along with Congress and support it against the BJP. It cannot continue dividing votes of the grand old party and let BJP triumph easily in elections, like in Gujarat and Goa.”
Congress leaders believe that the Gujarat results, where AAP had around 13% vote share, had directly dented the Congress’ vote bank and the party had left no stone unturned to sabotage the Congress’ progress. Responding to that, an AAP leader said, “They seem to be holding a grudge about it.”
Also, after the arrest of Manish Sisodia, the party is believed to be on the back-foot as Sisodia headed 18 of the 33 portfolios single-handedly, taking care of government responsibilities, allowing party chief Kejriwal to concentrate on dealing with the party cadre.
Moreover, before the Chandigarh mayoral elections, the AAP was sure that the Congress will support the AAP to vote for its mayor as the grand old party had agreed to give its votes to the party.
However, sources claim they had only done so up until the last moment and had withdrawn from their “verbal agreement” at the last moment, which gave BJP more votes to choose its mayor.
An AAP leader in Punjab said, “We had had talks with the Congress and they agreed; we had 14 votes, the BJP had 15 and Congress was with 7. It was all sorted. Had they voted for us, we would have formed the mayor. But they kept us busy till the last moment and finally went away without voting which led to the saffron party’s victory.”
There is buzz within the AAP that Rahul Gandhi’s categorical “no” to the Delhi-based party in times of expected alliances between the two, which has affected AAP’s standing several times, has led Kejriwal to show sympathy towards Rahul Gandhi openly, expecting a softer approach from the grand old party in coming times.
In addition to that, AAP leaders believe that several times, their party has tried to show “compliance” with Congress. However, the Congress’ defacto commander in chief, Rahul Gandhi, does not want any kind of association with the Delhi-based party. An AAP leader said, “They have been treating us like the BJP. Yet, we have softened our approach towards them, whether it be behind the scenes or on TV screens.”