Friends in 'INDIA', foes in Delhi: AAP vs Congress gets uglier by the day

In his first public meeting for Delhi polls on January 13, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi launched a blistering attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal

With the Delhi Assembly elections approaching on February 5, the political arena has intensified as Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) -- allies at the national level -- are embroiled in a bitter war of words.

In his first public meeting for Delhi polls on January 13, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi launched a blistering attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, saying there is no difference between the two leaders and they do not want backwards, Dalits, tribals and minorities to get their due share.

Specifically targeting Kejriwal, he said that the AAP convenor was following "Modi's strategy of propaganda and false promises" despite rising pollution, corruption and inflation in the national capital.

Attacking Kejriwal, Rahul Gandhi reminded the audience of the AAP chief's promises to clean Delhi, eliminate corruption, and transform the national capital into Paris.

"Arvind Kejriwal had talked of removing corruption. Has he removed corruption? Just like Modi ji's propaganda through the media, making false promises one after another, he (Kejriwal) is following the same strategy. There is no difference at all," Gandhi said.

Soon after his comments, Kejriwal took to social media platform X, and said Gandhi “abused” him a lot but he would not comment on the Congress leader’s statements. "His fight is to save Congress, my fight is to save the country," the AAP chief said.

While Congress and AAP are allies in the Opposition unity bloc INDIA and previously contested the Lok Sabha elections together in Delhi, they are now running separately in the Assembly polls.

Relations between AAP and Congress have been tense since their failure to form a pre-poll alliance for last year’s Haryana Assembly polls.

The rift has deepened further, as AAP has, on multiple occasions, claimed there is a secret alliance between Congress and BJP in the context of the Delhi polls. As recent as today, former CM Kejriwal said that the upcoming polls in the national capital would expose the “jugalbandi” going on behind the scenes between Congress and BJP for years.

His remarks came after BJP leader Amit Malviya reacted to his “Rahul Gandhi abused me” comments. “I said just one line about Rahul Gandhi and the reply is coming from the BJP. Look how much trouble the BJP is facing. Perhaps this Delhi election will expose the 'Jugalbandi' going on behind the scenes between Congress and BJP for years," the AAP supremo wrote on X.

Earlier, Kejriwal had urged both BJP and Congress to openly declare their alliance.

The Aam Aadmi Party, last month, warned that it would push to mobilise members of the INDIA bloc to expel Congress from the alliance if the party fails to act against its general secretary Ajay Maken, who, according to AAP, labelled Arvind Kejriwal as anti-national.

As internal rifts grow, Congress is becoming more isolated, with several Opposition parties from the INDIA bloc backing Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party over the grand-old-party in the high-stakes three-way battle for the Delhi Assembly polls.

Among the parties that have openly come out in support of the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP are Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress, Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party, and Shiv Sena (UBT).

NCP (SP) leader Sharad Pawar has also sidelined Congress, stating that his party will extend its support to Arvind Kejriwal in the upcoming Delhi elections. “In Delhi Assembly elections, my feeling is that we should help Arvind Kejriwal,” the former Maharashtra chief minister said, while also stating that the INDIA bloc was formed only for national-level elections and not for contesting municipal or state polls.

Voting for the 70-member Delhi Assembly is scheduled to be held on February 5 and the counting of votes will be taken up on February 8.