INDIA allies sharpening knives, Congress’s ‘all about AAP’ claim may not cut much ice

The Delhi election results “reflect nothing more than a referendum on Arvind Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party”, the Congress said, choosing largely to deflect the fact that its vote share crawled barely 2 per cent up to 6.34 per cent this time. Incidentally, that was nearly the same gap between the BJP and AAP.

This would hardly escape the attention of INDIA parties, particularly as the answer as to how to stop the BJP and the Narendra Modi bandwagon continues to escape them.

Slogans like “the Constitution is in danger” and that “institutions are being captured”, which the Congress led with, clearly did not excite the people.

Additionally, the Congress and AAP’s now-on, now-off partnership inspired little confidence among them, said a senior Congress leader, a tinge of anguish in his voice. “Our top leaders addressed a public meeting in Delhi along with INDIA bloc leaders to protest against the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal in March last year. We fought the Lok Sabha elections together. And now we are fighting against each other,” the leader said.

BJP workers celebrate election results at the Delhi BJP office in New Delhi. (Express Photo by Praveen Khanna)

Even on Saturday, the confusion within the Congress over the AAP was evident. Many Congress leaders said in private that now that it had lost, the volunteer-driven AAP would collapse and wither away, and presumably the Congress votes the AAP had taken would return to it.

Congress communication head Jairam Ramesh asserted there will be a Congress government in Delhi in 2030. Noting that the AAP had won decisively in Delhi even at the height of Modi’s popularity in 2015 and 2020, Ramesh said: “This shows that, rather than being vindication of the policies of the PM, this vote is a rejection of Arvind Kejriwal’s politics of deceit, deception, and vastly exaggerated claims of achievement.”

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who is on a three-day tour of her Kerala constituency, said: “People were fed up with the way things were and they wanted change… For the rest of us, it just means we have to work harder.”

Rahul Gandhi thanked the party’s workers and voters, and posted: “We humbly accept the mandate of Delhi… This fight for the progress of Delhi and the rights of Delhiites – against pollution, inflation and corruption – will continue.”

However, many in the INDIA bloc were reluctant to cut the Congress any slack. Senior Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav, who told The Indian Express in an interview before the results that the Congress was behind the Opposition’s failure to dislodge the Modi government, said that the Centre put enough hurdles in the path of the AAP administration in Delhi to make it stumble. However, he asked, why was the Congress campaign targeted at the AAP.

“The attitude of the Congress was very bad. I can understand the Congress attacking the BJP and seeking votes. But they attacked Kejriwal more, thinking that they can come back once Kejriwal is knocked down,” Ram Gopal told The Indian Express.

CPI general secretary D Raja, who is generally more gentle on the Congress, said: “This result clearly highlights that the RSS-BJP’s divisive agenda can only be effectively countered through a united, ideological and political front… It is a wake-up call for the constituents of the INDIA bloc, particularly the Congress – the largest party in the coalition – and other dominant regional parties.”

The path forward, Raja said, requires “honest, self-critical introspection to strengthen the unity necessary for the defence of our Constitution and pro-people policies”.

To charges that it didn’t align with the AAP, the Congress has been arguing that it was the AAP which did not want an alliance with it, and that Kejriwal himself spelt that out clearly with the AAP first off the block announcing all its 70 candidates.

“The meltdown of a section of so-called liberals is completely bizarre. They didn’t give these lectures on opposition unity to AAP when the party went to Goa, Gujarat, Haryana etc to fight elections and weaken the anti-communal, secular vote. Delhi election result is a rejection of the Trojan horse that attempted to damage the liberal cause across the country. The majority of liberals are rightly cheering the fall of the facade so that the real champion of liberal values – the Indian National Congress – can emerge stronger to take the BJP,” Congress leader Pawan Khera said.

The RJD’s Manoj Kumar Jha also raised similar points while arguing that the outcome in Delhi was “episodic” as the people may have yearned for change.

With Bihar elections, where the INDIA unity under the RJD will be tested, up next, Jha said not much should be read into the Congress and AAP not joining hands. “Even the Congress can complain that the AAP fought against them in Goa, Gujarat, Haryana… This is all part of larger democratic processes… But overall, the idea of the INDIA bloc was at the Central level, which is an idea to provide an alternative to the BJP. That remains relevant,” Jha said, adding that “parties have to sit together and plan for the future”.

Among the first INDIA bloc leaders to comment on the results was Jammu and Kashmir CM and National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah, who put out a cryptic post on X: “Aur lado aapas mein (Just keep on fighting)!!!”

Congress ally in Kerala Indian Union Muslim League rued that differences in the INDIA bloc paved the way for the BJP’s good show. “Everyone in the alliance should discuss this matter,” veteran IUML leader P K Kunhalikutty said.

The Trinamool Congress, facing a tough contest against the BJP in 2025 and a strong advocate of the AAP, however, preferred silence on Saturday.

Along with the SP, TMC had sent leaders to campaign for the AAP in Delhi.

TMC chief Mamata Banerjee’s claim to the INDIA bloc leadership is set to again come into focus after the results, as questions rise over the Congress. Several INDIA parties believe the Congress has failed to take along everyone or to give a direction to the bloc.

However, Mamata’s way to leadership of the alliance won’t be smooth. While parties like the SP, RJD and Shiv Sena (UBT) are in favour of the TMC chief taking the reins, the DMK and NCP (SP) are yet to reveal their cards. Given the close ties between Rahul Gandhi and DMK president and Tamil Nadu CM M K Stalin, the DMK is expected to side with the Congress.

The Left parties, staunch opponents of Mamata in Bengal, would never back any proposal to anoint the TMC chief as the INDIA bloc head.

Among the non-NDA, non-INDIA bloc parties, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi also took a swipe at the Congress. BRS working president K T Rama Rao “congratulated” posted: “Congrats to Rahul Gandhi for winning the election for BJP, yet again! Well done.”