In a major jolt to Delhi Congress ahead of the next year assembly polls, senior dalit leader Vir Singh Dhingan, three time MLA from Seemapuri constituency joined the Aam Aadmi Party in the presence of AAP's National Convenor, Arvind Kejriwal, on Friday. He is second stalwart of Delhi Congress after Mateen Ahmed,who left the party, putting a serious question mark on the present leadership, and sparking the same debate of exodus.
Not only Mateen and Dhingan, senior leaders like Arvinder Singh Lovely, Raj Kumar Chouhan, Naseeb Singh, Neeraj Basoya, Amit Malik have left the party in the last two years. Most of the high-profile leaders who have quit the party have blamed the Congress for being "directionless" and completely cut off from the ground. Besides, the ideological shift of the party, primarily influenced by the Left and Rahul Gandhi’s strong pro-left liberal views, has significantly altered its original stance. This shift has left many of its members feeling alienated, questioning whether the Congress still represents their beliefs and values. Last week, Mateen, his son and daughter in law joined the AAP.
Reacting to the development, Raj Kumar Chouhan said no leadership have left in the Congress. “Top leadership is not connected with local leaders. Top leaders are still under illusion that it is ruling.It is very difficult to meet Rahul Gandhi,” he said. In a no-holds-barred attack on the party leadership, Chouhan blamed it for "tremendous arrogance". "The Congress party leadership has become outdated and scrap," he added.
"Everyone is leaving the party as it is trapped in the vicious circle of nepotism and favoritism politics. No body is listening. A big problem with the Congress is that it lacks the farsightedness to frame positive policies. Neither can the Congress foresee the future nor does it have any road map for it", he said.
Senior Congress leader and former MLA from Sultanpur Majra, Jai Kishan said that that party and Vir Singh Dhingan must introspect as why senior leaders are leaving the party. Dhingan was the one of the dalit face in the party. It’s a major set back to the party,” he added.
Dhingan, addressing his decision to join AAP, explained that he had been associated with Congress for a long time but had grown disillusioned with both Congress and BJP due to increasing corruption. He specifically criticized Congress's actions during the MCD Mayor elections, which took place on Thursday.
"The party supported the BJP… I was deeply upset by how we allowed the BJP to win the elections," he added.
Dhingan, a Dalit leader who has won three terms as an MLA from Seemapuri—a reserved constituency—on the Congress ticket, is likely to contest for Aam AAdmi Party (AAP) in the upcoming elections. Kejriwal welcoming Dhingan at a media briefing at the party office, said he was an experienced leader and could be seen as the future MLA of Seemapuri constituency. The constituency was previously represented by Rajendra Pal Gautam, a former AAP minister, who quit the party and joined Congress in September, alleging discrimination against Dalit and minority leaders within the AAP.
