Support to AAP in 2013 reason for Delhi’s woes, weakening of Congress: Ajay Maken

New Delhi: Senior leader Ajay Maken on Wednesday said Congress’s support to Arvind Kejriwal’s 40-day government in 2013 is the main reason for the “weakening” of the party in the national capital and there is a need to rectify the repeated mistake of aligning with AAP in the recent Lok Sabha elections.

Calling Kejriwal an “anti-national” who is in “ideological” support of the BJP in situations like Uniform Civil Code, abrogation of Article 370 and Citizenship (Amendment) Act, Maken also asked how can one rely on Kejriwal who is only driven by his “personal ambition”.

Congress Treasurer Maken’s remarks came at a press conference at the part's Delhi headquarters while releasing a ‘White Paper on the Black Deeds’ of both AAP government in the capital and BJP-led dispensation at the Centre.

Maken, a former Delhi Speaker and ex-union minister, has been a critic of Kejriwal for a long time along with other Delhi Congress leaders and his views are in contrast to those of the national leadership, including Rahul Gandhi, which favoured alliance with AAP in Delhi and other states.

After the Lok Sabha elections, Rahul was also keen to have an alliance with AAP in Haryana but the opposition from the state unit sealed the deal against the Kejriwal-led party.

Maken said leaders have the freedom to express their views in Congress and his view is that “Delhi’s troubles and the weakening of Congress happened due to the support the party gave to the 40-day government of Kejriwal in 2013. The big reason for Delhi’s current troubles was our support”.

“I believe that perhaps a mistake has been made again in Delhi by making the alliance. That needs to be rectified,” he said adding, he was never and would not be in support of entering into an alliance with Kejriwal who “cannot be trusted”.

Claiming that Kejriwal can go to any extent to fulfil his ambition, as he “does not have any ideology”, Maken said, how can one trust a person with no ideology. “He is anti-national, he has no ideology except personal ambition,” Maken said.

He said AAP was formed with an aim to establish ‘Jan Lokpal’ and asked why Punjab government has not established one if they take the argument that there are hindrances due to the BJP government at the Centre.

“Kejriwal talks about money for women. If you cannot implement it in Delhi, why can’t you do it in Punjab where you have a full-fledged government,” he said.

He also sought to downplay AAP’s protests against Home Minister Amit Shah’s “insulting” remarks against B R Ambedkar saying Kejriwal should first clear the air on what his stand is on quota for Dalits.

He said the 12-point ‘White Paper’ is a document that talks about unkept promises and mismanagement on various issues like pollution, civic facilities and law and order by both AAP and BJP governments.

"If there is one word to describe former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal here then it would be 'Farziwal'," he said releasing 'Mauka Mauka, Har Baar Dhoka'.

Maken alleged that money was spent on renovating the Chief Minister's official residence by the AAP government and constructing Central Vista by the Narendra Modi government when the Covid-19 pandemic struck and common people were suffering.

He also said pension for elderly was stopped due to the fight between both the Delhi and union governments.