In what might further exacerbate the tensions between the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party, both constituents of the INDIA alliance, Congress Delhi in-charge Deepak Babaria has said he could not say for sure if the arrest of AAP MP Sanjay Singh was based on “genuine facts” or was an example of “misuse of investigative agencies”. While other INDIA parties have criticised Singh's arrest Wednesday on money laundering charges linked to the alleged Delhi excise scam, as have individual Congress leaders, the party has officially maintained silence on the issue. Talking to The Indian Express Thursday, Babaria said the party is looking at Singh’s arrest from two angles. “One is that the promises that the AAP has made in the past nine years. most of them have been proven as jumlebaazi (fibs). And its credibility is completely down, because of which, two of its (former) ministers have been in jail for a long time. The courts are also not giving them relief. And now the name of a third senior leader has come to light. Kanoon apni karwai karta hai. toh agar aur usme sachai hai (The law takes its own course. and if there is any truth to it). Nobody is above the law,” he said. “Right now, to say anything either way is wrong. If it is victimisation, we condemn it. If there is really something genuine and true about it. let the law take its course,” Babaria added. Congress sources said that the party's official silence stems from the lingering anger over the arrest of its MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira by the AAP government in Punjab, in connection with a narcotics case going back eight years. The party had conveyed its displeasure to the AAP leadership on the matter, telling that constituents of the INDIA bloc should not be employing “the BJP’s tool” of “vendetta politics” against each other. It’s almost a rerun of the Congress silence on the arrests earlier of the AAP’s Manish Sisodia and Satyendra Jain. In March this year, when Opposition parties sent a letter to the Prime Minister slamming Sisodia’s arrest and alleging misuse of Central agencies, the Congress did not become a signatory. In fact, the Delhi Congress even put up posters showing Sisodia and Jain behind bars. Now, while condemning Singh's arrest, leaders of almost all the INDIA parties have again accused the BJP government of misusing investigative agencies, and alleged that it was part of the ruling party’s attempt to silence and tarnish the Opposition. Senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi also told The Indian Express that “it is clearly an illegal arrest”. “The need of the hour is unity and resolute determination to fight this continuous illegal misuse of agencies.” However, crucially, there has been no joint statement so far from the INDIA bloc, which released one on the NewsClick raid-and-arrest issue. While saying that the charges against Singh were still being investigated, Babaria said that the Narendra Modi government's track record could not be ignored and acknowledged the AAP MP's strong stance against the BJP. “The way they misuse the CBI and ED for continuous political victimisation, to scare and intimidate people. the truth never comes out, the facts never come out. Only because Sanjay Singh used to speak against them in strong language. If it is being done to scare and intimidate him, we condemn it. Then it is a very big blow to democracy,” the Congress Delhi in-charge said. Asked specifically if he believed Singh’s arrest to be a case of misuse of investigative agencies, Babaria said: “One can’t say. The CM of the AAP government in Delhi used to say he is a representative of the common man. And Rs 80 crore was spent on the renovation of his bungalow. The CBI is probing that. Let’s see what happens. Otherwise, everybody knows the BJP’s track record. Tanashahi kar rahi hai (There is a dictatorship in place).” When pointed out that the AAP is a part of the INDIA alliance, Babaria said: “All that you can ask (Mallikarjun) Khargeji. I am only telling you about the situation in Delhi and the sentiments of the people.” The continuing tension between the Congress and the AAP comes at a time when the constituents of the INDIA alliance are preparing to start seat-sharing negotiations. The AAP has expressed its unhappiness at the Congress over the slow pace at which the INDIA parties are working out the seat-sharing arrangements. It has been pressing that these be completed within a month, but the Congress is cautious and prefers to go slow. Babaria refused to get into seat-sharing between the two parties in Delhi, saying it was a matter for the central leadership to decide.
