Can Cong and AAP be friends? Ajay Maken, Sandeep Dikshit lead voices that say never

Days after the Delhi and Punjab units of the Congress called on the high command and told them to “keep Kejriwal at arm’s length” for “intra-party cohesion”,Dikshit and Maken sharpened their attack on the Delhi CM over the ordinance.

“Kejriwal is well aware that he will be sent to jail for 8-10 years if he does not get control of the Vigilance Department,” Dikshit said, adding that he supported the ordinance against the AAP government.

Maken joined the chorus, alleging that the AAP convenor’s “true motives” stood exposed, as he had openly sought “enhanced powers over services, aiming to take control over the Vigilance Department”, thus challenging decades of established governance norms. This is a point he has consistently argued since the ordinance was issued.

“He conveniently downplays his true intentions. Investigations into scandals like Liquor gate, ‘Sheesh-mahal (Kejriwal’s Rs 171-crore residence…), power subsidy scam, bus purchases scam and others, will reveal the extent of corruption within his administration. And this is what he wants to stop,” Maken tweeted.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Dikshit said: “Any Congressman will be chucked out of the party if they make any statement against its national leadership. Then how can the party think of allying with the AAP, whose leader Kejriwal has made more vile statements against the Congress’s national leadership than even PM Modi?”

Both Maken and Dikshit also questioned the AAP over its “support of the BJP” on critical issues like Article 370. “What about the removal of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir by the BJP-led Centre, which he [Kejriwal] supported, or not signing the Congress’s impeachment motion against [former CJI] Dipak Misra, or not signing the no-confidence motion against the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson that immediately followed?” Dikshit added.

A senior Congress leader said that following the duo’s example, other Delhi Congress leaders are “gradually emerging” with sharp criticism of Kejriwal, especially after the latter issued a public appeal to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, seeking a meeting.

According to Congress sources, there are two main prickly issues standing between the AAP and Congress. The first is what the Congress insiders describe as “unforgettable, patently false and malicious propaganda” against both its national and local [Delhi] leadership, “on the basis of which Kejriwal came to power”. The second is a Delhi Assembly resolution after the AAP formed its second successive government, demanding retraction of the Bharat Ratna conferred on former PM Rajiv Gandhi – neither of which, the insiders say, will “change or be forgotten”.

While senior AAP leaders acknowledge that a united Opposition is key to defeating the BJP, the role that the Congress will play in it is still not clear. The AAP has shared stage with the Congress in the past, but an alliance has not come through since 2013, when the Congress had extended outside support to let the AAP form the government in the city. Before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, alliance talks between the two parties lasted for months, but ended in a deadlock.

While Maken — a former Delhi and Union minister — has never minced his words regarding the AAP and its convenor, it is former East Delhi MP Sandeep Dikshit, the son of the late three-time Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit, who had taken the first potshot, in March this year.

On a day when Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh marched to Parliament against the Centre, along with other Opposition leaders, on a host of issues, Dikshit and a group of former Delhi government ministers filed a complaint with Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena against the AAP government and Kejriwal over the now-defunct Feed Back Unit (the AAP’s rivals claim it was used to spy on them). Alleging sedition, they demanded a trial under the UAPA, the anti-terror law.

Afterwards, when the CBI summoned the Delhi CM for questioning in the alleged excise policy scam, Maken tweeted that Kejriwal “should not be shown any sympathy or support”, and asked his party colleagues who are lawyers not to represent Kejriwal or the Delhi government in the case.

Regarding the ordinance, a senior Delhi Congress leader said the party believed the BJP would “somehow be able to push the legislation through”, so aligning with the AAP on this issue was “not worth it”.

Another leader argued that Kejriwal was merely “using the ordinance as a bogey” to make it “appear as if he is the lone voice” fighting for the Constitution. “He wants to look like a self-styled saviour of the Constitution, because he is embroiled in corruption charges that have dented his image. It’s a trap. He is seeking vindication,” the leader alleged.

At a meeting with Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, K C Venugopal and others on Monday on the issue, leaders of the Congress’s Delhi and Punjab units argued strongly against extending any support to the AAP. “Delhi Congress leaders spoke against supporting the AAP on the ordinance. However, former Delhi Congress chiefs Arvinder Singh Lovely and Subhash Chopra held that supporting the ordinance was warranted, given the Congress’s previous demand for more administrative powers to an elected government in Delhi. However, both said the final decision was up to the high command,” a source said.

On its part, not only did the AAP disparage Maken and Dikshit by questioning their current standing within the Congress, Delhi Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj also accused the duo of “misleading” their own leaders, given that Sheila Dikshit had herself introduced a motion as CM in the Delhi Assembly on September 11, 2002, demanding more powers for Delhi’s elected government compared to the LG.

Bharadwaj also tweeted that the motion moved by Sheila Dikshit had made the exact same point that the AAP had made in the Supreme Court, saying, “Amendment in Rules or any order of the Centre cannot take away special status of Delhi which is provided by the Constitution under Art 239 AA. So why are Delhi Congress leaders misleading Mr @RahulGandhi?”

Maken said he had never claimed that as Delhi CM, Sheila Dikshit hadn’t sought full statehood or more authority. Rather, he said, Kejriwal wants to gain “unique privileges previously denied to CMs like Sheila Dikshit, Madan Lal Khurana, Sahib Singh Verma and Sushma Swaraj”.

Speaking to The Indian Express, he said, “This ordinance is a diversionary tactic by Kejriwal, whose public image has been severely dented after he was caught on the wrong foot on various scams. He is trying to divert public attention from these.”

Sandeep Dikshit said, “Which political leader wouldn’t seek more power? But the fact is that when Mrs Dikshit did so, it was within the contours of the Constitution, just like her administration worked within the powers conferred upon her by the Constitution.”