NEW DELHI: Delhi chief minister and AAP leader Atishi on Thursday directed her attack on BJP, alleging that the saffron party does not have any agenda other than hurling abuses at AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal.
Delhi CM and AAP’s Kalkaji candidate claimed that the BJP is lacking a chief ministerial face in Delhi. “This ‘galli-galoch’ party (abusive party) doesn’t have any agenda, narrative, or CM face for Delhi. They have only one job: to hurl abuses at Arvind Kejriwal. I think it will be very easy for the people of Delhi to make a decision,” Atishi said during the inauguration of AAP’s election office in Govindpuri.
Addressing the media, Kejriwal said that the upcoming assembly elections would be a direct contest between the AAP and the BJP, distancing the poll from the larger INDIA alliance of opposition parties.
“The Delhi assembly election is between AAP and BJP. It is not the election of the INDIA alliance. I wholeheartedly express my gratitude to all those parties supporting us. Mamata Banerjee is supporting us. Akhilesh Yadav is supporting us. I have learnt through the media that (Uddhav) Thackeray ji’s party is also supporting us,” Kejriwal said.
The Congress, which has been at loggerheads with the AAP, accused Kejriwal’s party of consistently working against its interests. “Arvind Kejriwal may say anything, but Aam Aadmi Party is the party in Delhi that defamed Congress. I don’t remember him saying even a single word against BJP in 2012-13. AAP’s method is clear: in all elections, they aim to defeat Congress,” said Sandeep Dikshit, Congress candidate from the New Delhi constituency.
Dikshit further alleged that AAP’s actions betrayed its claims of opposing the BJP and the RSS. “If you have so much aversion to BJP and RSS, then why did you write a letter to RSS? Congress has never written such letters,” he said.
The Delhi assembly election will be held in a single phase on February 5, with counting scheduled for February 8. The last date for filing nominations is January 17, with scrutiny on January 18 and withdrawal of candidature allowed until January 20.
The Congress, which ruled Delhi for 15 consecutive years under Sheila Dixit, has faced setbacks in the last two assembly elections, failing to win any seats. In contrast, AAP dominated the 2020 elections, winning 62 out of 70 seats, while the BJP secured only eight.
