The Congress on Monday took a break from claiming that its principal opponent in the battle for the Capital was the Bharatiya Janata Party by attacking Aam Aadmi Party convenor Arvind Kejriwal through a booklet dedicated to his “U-turns”.
“ 49 dino ki ultee chaal, Dilli hui behal, U turn Kejriwal ” (49 days of backward movement, an exasperated Delhi, U-Turn Kejriwal), an eight-page booklet, was released at a press conference at the Congress headquarters here by General Secretary and election campaign in-charge Ajay Maken and Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee chief Arvinder Singh.
Aiming to hit out at the AAP, the booklet alleges that the party’s 49-day government was a ‘nightmare’ for the people of Delhi. Claiming that Mr. Kejriwal as the Chief Minister could have created a “world record” on going back on his words, Mr. Maken gave the AAP chief the sobriquet of “Muffler U turn” as he is referred to as the “Muffler Man” by his supporters on social media.
The booklet contains 16 points, each listing promises made by the AAP chief. The first point was on the issue of joining politics, stating that Mr. Kejriwal in an interview on September 12, 2011, had said he would never join politics. “We do not need to get into the system to fight it. We want to pressurise the government and assert our rights as everyone who has a dream need not get into politics,” he had said.
The booklet also claims that Mr. Kejriwal “dumped” social activist Anna Hazare at the first chance after having gained the “most mileage” of the India Against Corruption movement. It also said that former IPS officer Kiran Bedi, who recently joined the BJP, had gone on record saying that Kejriwal “ran away” with all the funds, Facebook users and databases of the IAC.
Replying to questions, Mr. Maken cleared the air about a possible rift between him and Mr. Singh being behind the party’s decision to ask the latter to step down as the Gandhi Nagar candidate. Mr. Maken said he, Haroon Yusuf and Mr. Singh were the “Amar, Akbar and Singh” of the Congress.
