NEW DELHI: Holding Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal responsible for the failure of alliance talks, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi Monday said the AAP chief took a "U-turn" from an agreed position and wanted a tie-up beyond the national capital.
Addressing a rally in the Chandni Chowk constituency, the Congress president asserted that it is only his party which can stop Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP and the RSS. He accused Kejriwal of "opening the doors" for BJP's victory in 2014 by spreading "lies" about the Congress. "The BJP alone did not spread lies about the Congress," Gandhi said.
"I clearly told Kejriwalji that we have to win all seven seats in Delhi. You contest on four seats and we will contest on three. First, he agreed. Even I concurred with the proposal. But then he brought in talks on Haryana and Punjab. Then he took a U-turn," Gandhi said.
He asserted that the Congress is the only party in the last five years to fight Modi across the country. "It is you who has to understand this. In Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Punjab, Karnataka wherever Narendra Modi went, the Congress party defeated him. I will not allow Narendra Modi, BJP and the RSS to move ahead even by an inch," he said.
The Congress president said that even in Parliament, the party MPs battled the BJP. The AAP and the Congress are vying for the same voter base in the national capital. Last week, Kejriwal had started his roadshow from the Jama Masjid area. The AAP and the Congress have been blaming each other for the failure of talks.
While the AAP was not ready to have a tie-up in Delhi alone, the Congress was reluctant to have an alliance beyond the national capital. The anti-graft movement led by social activist Anna Hazare, of which Kejriwal was a part, had rocked the UPA-II.