Senior congress leader Ajay Maken on Monday slammed the the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), alleging that it has been functioning as a “B-team” of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and that its “mask” has now come off following the defection of seven of its Rajya Sabha members.
Addressing a press conference, Maken claimed that AAP had been nominating wealthy individuals to the Rajya Sabha in exchange for money, and said the party should be renamed “Arabpati Aadmiyon ki Party (party of billionaires)”.
He alleged that the average net worth of the seven MPs who joined the BJP was over Rs 818 crore.
“The net worth of each MP of those seven who have left AAP for BJP comes to Rs 818,50,35,420,” he said.
“In reality, this is the party of billionaires. They should change their name from Aam Aadmi Party to 'Arabpati Aadmiyon ki Party' (party of billionaires)'.”
Maken further alleged that AAP had acted as a proxy for the BJP to counter the Indian National Congress in States such as Punjab and Gujarat.
“The mask has completely come off the face of AAP and Arvind Kejriwal,” he said. “The Aam Aadmi Party is the B team of the BJP. The leaders of AAP are traitors to the country.”
Referring to Punjab, he noted that the BJP had secured only 6% of the vote in the Assembly elections but now had six Rajya Sabha members from the State. He also alleged that AAP had received funds from separatist elements, calling the ruling party in Punjab “anti-national”.
“Now, once again, such separatist forces, those who want to divide the country and separate Punjab, are beginning to raise their heads,” he said.
On the Congress’s past association with AAP, Maken described the party’s support to AAP’s 40-day government in Delhi in 2014 as a “big mistake”.
“I would like to reiterate that it was a big mistake on the part of the Congress party in 2014 to support AAP's 40-day government. It was just because of that one small support that AAP managed to stay in Delhi,” he said.
He added that decisions regarding alliances were often shaped by “pressures” within the opposition INDIA bloc. “You have to make certain decisions collectively with other alliance partners... when the other alliance partners are so hell-bent upon that we need this party with us in the alliance, then the Congress party can't do much because it is a collective decision-making process when it comes to the INDIA alliance thinking,” he said.
Ajay Maken said that Congress had never had an electoral alliance with AAP in State elections and expressed doubt over any future tie-up.
His remarks came after Rajya Sabha Chairman C. P. Radhakrishnan accepted the merger of seven AAP MPs with the BJP, reducing AAP’s strength in the Upper House to three and raising the BJP’s tally to 113.
(With inputs from PTI)
