The Delhi Congress has refused to show any signs of holding up a peace deal with Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi. Anti-AAP sentiments are said to have emerged sharply again in AICC president Malikar- jun Kharge’s meeting with the Delhi unit of Congress.
The Congress leaders have, according to a source privy to the meeting, mostly taken a middle path by showing fa- tigue over their possible alli- ance with the Delhi based par- ty. A senior Congress leader said, “They were asked about theirviewsonthealliance and most of them refused to show anyinterest. Thereweresome senior leaders who openly protested against the alliance by putting out reasons.”
An ex-Union minister told The Sunday Guardian that there are two senior lead- ers, Sandeep Dixit and Ajay Maken, who are very much against the alliance due to rel- evant reasons, but there could be a step taken by Congress of convincing the two and oth- ers who don’t want an alliance to happen—maybe a short term truce could be reached for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
A section of senior leaders
of perpetrating lies and do- ing illegal activities under the garb of being an “anti- corruption man”. They be- lieve the Congress will lose its worth. They further add that they have been working hard to come out of the clutches of the ideologies that mimic the BJP’s working and ideology (pointing towards AAP). An ex-spokesperson of Congress said, “We have done so much of narrative building about secularism. There is no way that the party should have an alliance with AAP. It is akin to having alliance with the BJP. They are one and the same. Their ideology is same. Con- gress has an inclusive ideol- ogy and it has stood the test of time. If we forge an alliance with them, even if the senior leadership agrees, there will be a lot more resistance from the ground workers than is expected.”
AAP had ended the 13-year rule of the Congress in Delhi and it is time when the grand old party is struggling to sur- vive in the state. Even after being in power for 13 years, the party does not have even a single legislator in Delhi As- sembly. The Congress leaders are afraid that the ground workers will get discouraged
government in the state. A po- litical analyst said that there is no control of the high com- mand over the ground work- ers so if they resist, they need to take more steps and hold more sessions with the state leadership to maybe have a temporary truce for the up- coming Lok Sabha elections. However, AAP leaders say that the Congress leaders are unable to resolve the matter within themselves. Some leaders want the alliance to happen, but others are unwilling. An AAP insider said, “There is a political di- lemma in Congress and we only wish that they resolve it soon, which would send a
positive message across.”
A political analyst said, “Delhi has 7 Lok Sabha seats and Punjab has 13. Inboth the states, AAP is their main hur- dle. In both the states, AAP had run a high-octane cam- paign against the Congress. Moreover, Arvind Kejriwal has directly targeted Sonia Gandhi andaccused Congress of corruption whenever he has got a chance. Now after the ordinance that took away powers from Kejriwal to post and transfer civil servants, he has become somewhat powerless.”