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Journalism of Courage
After the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) experienced a crushing defeat in the Delhi Assembly election, leaders from its INDIA bloc partners criticised the Congress and the AAP for their lack of unity during the polls. They said if both parties had contested together as an alliance, they could have defeated the BJP. The BJP is poised to win 48 seats in the 70-member Delhi Assembly, with the AAP being reduced to just 22 seats. The Congress has not won any seats.
Nationalist Congress Party (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar, in a post on X, congratulated the BJP for its success but said the arrogance of the Congress and the AAP resulted in the drubbing in Delhi elections and had the parties contested together, the BJP would not have won even 20 seats.
“My personal feeling was that the government should have been formed under the leadership of the AAP in the Delhi elections. While fighting against a superpower like BJP, which is fighting elections using all appropriate and inappropriate means, parties with similar ideologies needed to take a step back or two. But unfortunately, the parties in the INDIA bloc did not put their egos aside. As a result, the BJP pulled off an impossible victory. All leaders fighting in the traditional way should take note of this matter,” said Pawar.
He also remarked that the Congress and the AAP appeared to operate as a “B team” for the BJP and questioned whether the INDIA bloc partners would finally learn a lesson. “In Delhi’s Jangpura, Manish Sisodia was defeated by 700 votes, while Congress’s Suri got 7,350. In New Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal was defeated by nearly 3,400 votes, while the Congress’s Sandeep Dixit got more than 4,500 votes… The situation is similar in more than 20 constituencies. The two parties did not coordinate with each other,” he added.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut also said if both parties had contested together, they would have indeed defeated BJP. Shiv Sena (UBT) announced its support for Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP during the Delhi Assembly elections. Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Anil Desai said the party was supporting the AAP because Kejriwal’s party had previously backed it during the Maharashtra Assembly elections.
Raut claimed that the AAP could not work freely in Delhi because the Lieutenant Governor held complete power. “All significant leaders were imprisoned, contributing to the AAP’s defeat. This is part of a pattern, similar to what happened in Maharashtra, to eliminate the leadership that stands up to the BJP,” he alleged.
Raut alleged irregularities in the voters’ list in Maharashtra, where the Mahayuti coalition won significantly last November. He claimed a “Maharashtra pattern” was also implemented in the Delhi elections.
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