Hours after the Congress accused Aam Aadmi Party of helping the BJP by abstaining from the voting to the post of Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced that his party will not join the proposed opposition alliance against the BJP for the 2019 general elections.
File Photo: PTIHe said that the parties who were joining the proposed alliance have had no role in the country’s development, reported PTI.
Politics of alliance doesn’t matter. For me, politics is for public & their development. What we did in Delhi in 3 yrs, these parties weren’t able to do even a fraction of that in 70 years:Arvind Kejriwal on being asked if AAP will join opposition alliance in 2019 elections (9.8) pic.twitter.com/oWrjsdRRB8
— ANI (@ANI) August 9, 2018
“The AAP will not be a part of any alliance in 2019,” Kejriwal told reporters in Rohtak.
News agency PTI quoted him as saying that his party will contest the Haryana assembly polls and the general elections on all seats.
The decision by AAP has evoked strong reactions on social media. Journalist Pallavi Ghosh tweeted, “Whole of yesterday AAP attacked congress for not reaching out for sake of opp unity … last night Kejriwal says won’t be part of 2019 opp unity .. now how does this work out?” Supreme Court lawyer, Sanjay Hegde, wrote, “Stupidity from this side also. Between AAP’s self-righteousness & Congress’ dynastic sense of entitlement, there lies a whole mandate given away on a plate, to the BJP.”
The announcement came even as the Congress and Kejriwal’s party attacked each other publicly. The Congress on Thursday Kejriwal of openly supporting the BJP. Taking to Twitter, Sharmistha Mukherjee, a well known Congress leader and the daughter of former President Pranab Mukherjee, wrote, “AAP says ‘politics does not run on ego’. Indeed! That’s why @ArvindKejriwal is sulking & decided to abstain from voting in RS, helping BJP.”
Mukherjee’s comments came after AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh taunted at Congress President Rahul Gandhi saying that he did not need AAP’s support for his party’s candidate in the Rajya Sabha for the election of Deputy Chairman in the Upper House of the parliament.
(The earlier version of our story carried a tweet from a parody account. We’ve removed the tweet and apologise for the error)