The Congress on Tuesday appeared to be a divided house over its support to the Aam Aadmi Party with senior leaders openly questioning the decision of the party leadership thus raising questions on the stability of the new government.
AICC general secretary Janardan Dwivedi gave vent to the unease in a section of the leadership which was upset at the haste shown by leaders in extending support to Kejriwal, who has been bad mouthing the outgoing government led by Sheila Dikshit.
Dwivedi said that the voters of Delhi had given a mandate to the Congress to sit in the opposition with such reduced numbers that it could not even be the main Opposition party in the Assembly.
He also ruled out any re-think on the party’s decision and said “we have decided to extend our support and we will stand by it.”
The Congress had declared outside support to the AAP soon after the BJP turned down the invitation by Lt Governor Najeeb Jung to form the government by virtue of being the single largest party.
The Congress plans to put the AAP in a spot by supporting it in government formation appeared to have gone awry as Kejriwal sharpened attack against the Dikshit ministry by declaring that he would order probes into alleged irregularities committed by them during the last 15 years.
The Congress leaders were doubtful whether the AAP would be able to deliver on its poll promises of slashing power bills by 50 per cent and giving 700 litres of water free.
However, Congress leaders also indicated that the party’s support to the AAP would be issue-based and not unconditional. At the same time, there were signals that the party would continue its support “as long as AAP government delivers”.
The hard stance of Kejriwal has upset Congress workers and leaders alike and prompted them to come out in the open and voice their reservation to the decision to extend outside support to the AAP.
Congress supporters also held demonstrations outside the office of the Delhi unit against decision to support the AAP to form government in Delhi.
It is learnt that Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi was also unhappy at the haste shown by the Delhi unit in extending its support to the AAP.
At least two senior leaders claimed Sheila Dikshit was keen to extend support to Kejriwal after Congress president Sonia Gandhi authorised her to take a decision in this regard.
One leader said that the Congress president had authorised Dikshit and AICC general secretary Shakeel Ahmed, in-charge of party affairs in the capital, to take a decision on the issue. He claimed that Dikshit was so keen to extend support that she had even kept a draft of the letter of extending support ready.
A party leader said even if the Congress had to support the AAP, it should have done like the Left did for UPA-I forcing its say in programmes and policies of the government.