Furious with Congress leaders’ accusations against the Aam Aadmi Party and former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, AAP leaders said they would urge other opposition parties to expel Congress from the INDIA bloc if it fails to take action against Ajay Maken.
Addressing presspersons, Delhi Chief Minister Atishi and AAP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh charged Congress has some understanding with the Bharatiya Janata Party for Delhi election. “Congress's senior leader Ajay Maken said that Arvind Kejriwal is anti-national. I want to ask the Congress party if they have ever levelled the same allegations against any BJP leader. No,” Atishi charged.
The Delhi CM alleged the BJP is funding the election campaign of a few Congress leaders in the national capital. “We have heard that Sandeep Dikshit is getting funded by BJP. If Congress thinks we (AAP) are anti-national, then why did they contest Lok Sabha elections in alliance with us?” she asked. Atishi said the Congress party must take action against Ajay Maken within 24 hours else they would consult with other parties to remove Congress from the INDIA bloc.
AAP's move comes amidst growing support for the call to make Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee leader of the INDIA bloc, replacing Rahul Gandhi.
On Wednesday, Congress leader Ajay Maken came down heavily on AAP and called Arvind Kejriwal an “anti-national”. Maken said the Congress’s alliance with AAP during Lok Sabha polls on Monday was a “mistake”. Maken alleged, “If anyone is the king of fraud in the entire country then it is Kejriwal and that is why we have come here with a white paper on the Kejriwal government and also on the BJP government at the Centre.”
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AAP’s charges also come after Congress filed a complaint against it over its flagship 'Mukhyamantri Mahila Samman Yojana' scheme.
Sanjay Singh also accused the Congress of colluding with the BJP against AAP. "We had not said a single word against the Congress during the Haryana election. Yet the Congress seems to be reading out from the BJP's script. Its candidates' list looks as if it was finalised at the BJP office," Singh charged.
Singh added, "Ajay Maken has crossed all limits by calling Arvind Kejriwal anti-national. Despite campaigning for the Congress in past elections, Kejriwal now faces an FIR, while the Congress had never filed a single FIR against any BJP leader.”