The upcoming Delhi Assembly elections have set the stage for an intense political battle, with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress emerging as fierce rivals despite being allies in the opposition bloc at the national level. AAP’s accusations of a “secret cooperation” between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have only added to the charged atmosphere, while Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit has taken legal action against AAP leaders, escalating the tensions further.
“(Delhi Chief Minister) Atishi claimed I took crores of rupees from the BJP. Such a claim implies I am a criminal and should be investigated. I had demanded evidence but wasn’t provided with any,” Dikshit said during an interaction with the media on Thursday.
Dikshit is contesting from the New Delhi Assembly seat against AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal.
Hitting back at the Congress leader, Kejriwal doubled down his party’s accusation. “Let him do that (file the defamation case). He is a pawn in the hands of the BJP and does what the party tells him to,” he said at a press conference on Thursday.
Notably, some regional parties, which are part of the INDI Alliance, have extended support to the AAP.
On Wednesday, both the Trinamool Congress and the Samajwadi Party threw their weight behind the AAP for the upcoming polls. These parties had extended support to the Kejriwal-led party during the 2020 Assembly polls as well.
“The Delhi election is a contest between the AAP and the BJP and not the INDI Alliance. Whichever parties are supporting us, I want to thank them from the bottom of my heart,” Kejriwal said on Thursday.
Earlier, hitting back at senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot’s statement that the AAP was their opponent in Delhi, Kejriwal, on Wednesday, said that the comment had laid bare Congress’s "secret cooperation" with the BJP for the upcoming polls.
Dikshit hit back, saying, “In whatever elections they (AAP) have gone, it has been with the sole intention of defeating the Congress. On the ground, the AAP has always fought an election that has helped the BJP.” Meanwhile, speaking on INDIA, he said that the “bloc was formed at the national level and doesn’t hold significance at the state level.”
In his defamation suit, Dikshit has claimed Rs 10 crore, “not for me, but Rs 5 crore would go for the cleaning of Yamuna, and the remaining for cleaning Delhi’s air.”
The polling for the Delhi elections will take place on February 5 and results will be declared on February 8.
