After years of political rivalry, are the AAP and Congress moving closer? Are the two parties working in tandem towards a possible alliance before the 2019 parliamentary polls? Has the AAP has finally found resort in the Congress to ensure its own survival?
These questions have surfaced after AAP chief and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday retweeted a sarcastic post related to a CBI court's recent verdict on the 2G spectrum allocation case, in which all the accused were acquitted . The post, which has a picture Dr Manmohan Singh, sarcastically quoted the former prime minister as saying, “All the arrests, including ministers happened during my regime, all the acquittal happened during Modi's regime".
So true... https://t.co/UTXXpYp4Ai
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) December 22, 2017
Arvind Kejriwal retweeted the post adding a comment, “So true.”
A Twitter account 'History of India' originally posted the tweet which Kejriwal retweeted on Friday, an action which is seen as him echoing the voice of the Congress.
Significantly, his retweet came a day after the former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh issued a statement on the judgement saying, “The judgement speaks for itself...I am glad the court has pronounced unambiguously that all this massive propaganda that was being done against the UPA was without any foundation."
File image of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal. Getty images
Interestingly, this is not the first time that Kejriwal is showing his support for the Congress. In the 5th foundation day celebration of AAP held just before Gujarat election, Kejriwal while addressing the party volunteers appealed voters to vote for the strongest candidate rather than voting for the AAP candidates in Gujarat.
"It is not necessary to vote for the AAP candidate. I appeal to the people of Gujarat to vote for the strongest candidates against the ones fielded by BJP. It is time to defeat BJP," he said.
Though the AAP has hardly any footprint in Gujarat this statement was seen as made to benefit Congress.
The CBI court's verdict on Thursday prompted the Congress to create a ruckus in the Parliament, demanding an apology from the prime minister as the purported scam was the main political plank for the BJP in the 2014 parliamentary election.
Congress claimed that there was no scam at all in 2G spectrum allocation.
The AAP, in its statement, reserved harsh words for the main accused, who are from DMK. In a press conference on Thursday, AAP leader Ashutosh said that the nation would never accept that there was no scam. He raised doubts regarding a possible hush-up by the present regime to protect the accused DMK leaders.
“Recently the PM met DMK leader Karunanidhi. The nation wants to know whether there was a deal in this meeting which resulted in the acquittal of the DMK leaders and the companies?”
He further asked, "Why did the CBI fail to collect any evidence against the accused?”
He went on further to ask whether the government will now take action against the CBI officials who failed to collect evidence.
While the AAP adopted a harsh stance on the DMK and BJP suggesting a nexus between them, the party chief Arvind Kejriwal’s retweet credits Congress leader Manmohan Singh for arresting the accused in his term as the Prime Minister. Thus, the AAP is seen to have taken a softer stance towards the Congress.
Is this an attempt by the AAP to pave the way for a possible alliance with the Congress?
Significantly, the AAP has seen neither seen any electoral success after its landslide victory in Delhi in the year 2015, nor it has managed to formulate a national vision to woo voters outside Delhi. Given growing anti-incumbency against the Delhi government, the only way by which it can stay in power in Delhi for a long time is by carving an alliance with the Congress. This could be why the AAP is busy in whitewashing the grand old party.
The AAP has been vocal against the Congress since its early days. The Anna Hazare-led India Against Corruption movement, which Arvind Kejriwal was an important part of, raised an anti-corruption crusade against the Congress-led UPA government. Kejriwal's relatively softer attitude towards the Congress now is seen as a U-turn from his earlier stance.
Published Date: Dec 22, 2017 08:01 pm | Updated Date: Dec 22, 2017 08:01 pm
