Support to AAP wrong, says Tewari

Striking a discordant note, Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari on Saturday said the Congress should not have offered its support to the Aam Aadmi Party to help form government in Delhi.

The party, which miserably lost in the just-concluded Assembly polls in the national capital region, should rather have accepted people’s verdict “in all humility,” he said at a debate on a news channel.

"I do not think we should have done it at all. We ruled (Delhi) for 15 years for good, bad or ugly. People have rejected us. We should accept the verdict in all humility," the minister said, adding that it was time for the Congress to introspect.

Tewari, however, immediately clarified that it was his personal opinion on the issue and that his view should not be considered as to be his party’s view. It was between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the AAP to find ways to form a government in the national capital region as the two emerged as the largest parties in Delhi in the just concluded elections, he added.

The Union Minister’s remark comes at a time when the AAP has written letters to both the Congress and the BJP, asking them to clarify their stand on a list of 18 issues that included ending VIP culture in the capital, audit of electricity companies and removal of MLA local funds scheme.