The day the Aam Aadmi Party formed the government in Delhi, the Opposition BJP called it a “Congress supported government” and alleged that a deal was brokered between the AAP and the Congress so as “to stop the BJP at any cost” from coming to power in Delhi.
Addressing a workers meeting on Saturday which was also a celebration for being the single largest party in the Delhi elections, Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said: “The party [AAP] that abused the Congress the most has decided to form the government with its support. There are two reasons for this. The Congress knows they will lose 2014 elections and they are afraid that if there is a re-election that coincides with the Lok Sabha polls, the Modi factor at play will mean they may not even get the eight seats they got in Delhi.”
However, senior party leader Sushma Swaraj, acknowledged the AAP for bringing corruption to the fore, and asked the party workers to present a clean image and work honestly without groupism in the three civic bodies under party control.
“AAP has made corruption as an issue and brought it to the centre. That is why those of us in the Municipal Corporation have a responsibility and there should be a ‘competition of honesty.’ Who is more honest? Is the government more honest or the BJP run civil bodies? This should be the fight.”
With infighting in the party ranks of the Delhi BJP coming to the fore before the Delhi elections, Ms. Swaraj asked party workers to follow two mantras — working honestly in running the civic bodies and not indulging in groupism while working hard to win the Lok Sabha elections.
Mr. Gadkari alleged that the AAP and the Congress had brokered a deal and that “the Congress is sticking its face on the AAP”. He said the latter is not dreaming of forming a government at the Centre anymore and said: “Since they know they are finished, they will have to stop the BJP at any cost.” He, however, took a leaf out of the AAP’s book and called for more “ward level” programmes rather than big programmes. “We should focus on division of work and decentralisation of power,” he said.
Meanwhile, Delhi BJP chief Vijay Goel kept the morale of the party workers high by congratulating them for the hard work over the last eight months. “We will win all seven Lok Sabha seats and we will strengthen ourselves at the booth level and work harder for the next elections,” he said.
