Ahead of its scheduled meeting of the INDIA alliance in Mumbai later this month, trouble seems to be brewing in the rank of Oppostion parties with Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) engaging in electioneering slugfest.
The war of words between Congress and AAP escalated on Saturday after AAP convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday visited the Congress-ruled f Chhattisgarh where he announced lucrative “freebies” which includes promises of free electricity, monthly “samman rashi” for women and `3,000 monthly allowance for the unemployed.
Kejriwal also took a swipe at Congress over what he claimed was “terrible quality” of government schools in Chhattisgarh.
The AAP’s foray into Chhattisgarh where Congress is attempting to retain the power comes couple of days after the Congress first announced it would contest all the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi and later backtracked..
Reacting to Kejriwal’s comments, Congress media head Pawan Khera questioned the Delhi CM over the need for comparing Chhattisgarh with Delhi, when the comparison should be with the previous Raman Singh Government in Chhattisgarh.
“Why go to Raipur? Performance of our Chhattisgarh Government will be compared with the previous Raman Singh-led BJP Government. Let us choose a sector of your choice and compare the performance of the Congress Government in Delhi vs your Government. Ready for a debate?” Khera said reacting to Kejriwal’s swipe.
Khera was longtime associated and OSD to the then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit who has been credited for holistic development of the national Capital in Congress’ 15 years of consecutive rule.
Addressing an AAP workers’ convention at Raipur, Kejriwal said his party’s Governments in Delhi and Punjab have fulfilled the guarantees given to people, and if it comes to power in Chhattisgarh, it would do the same thing.
The INDIA alliance is facing trouble in Maharashtra, too, where Congress and Uddhav Shiv Sena has questioned frequent meetings of Sharad Pawar with Ajit Pawar’s faction.
The AAP had entered the electoral fray in Chhattisgarh for the first time in the 2018 assembly elections, fielding candidates in 85 of the total 90 seats, but drew a blank. None of its candidates even succeeded in saving the deposit.
Senior journalist and political analyst R Krishna Das said the guarantees given by Kejriwal indicated that the AAP is trying to follow the Congress’s strategy last time when it had promised a slew of freebies. Congress won 68 seats in 2018 assembly elections, ending 15 years of BJP rule, riding on promises like higher Minimum Support Price for paddy, loan waiver, half electricity bill scheme and regularisation of contractual employees, he noted.
Both AAP and Congress are part of the Opposition’s INDIA alliance at the national level. But in Chhattisgarh, the Kejriwal-led party is likely to eat into the vote share of the ruling Congress which would benefit the BJP, Das said.
