NEW DELHI : Days after Aam Aadmi Party announced that it will be contesting the mayoral elections with its INDIA bloc partner Congress, the latter too, on Saturday extended their support to the AAP, assuring that the Congress councilors will vote in favour of AAP candidates.
The announcement came in a press briefing by Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee President Arvinder Singh Lovely after holding discussions with senior leaders and the party councilors.
“We decided to support Aam Aadmi Party candidates Mahesh Khichi for Mayor and Ravindra Bhardwaj for Deputy Mayor elections of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD)to be held on April 26,” he said.
Leader of Congress Councillors in the MCD House, Nazia Danish, said the party do not want a repeat of what had happened in the Chandigarh mayoral election, which was later cancelled by the Supreme Court due to the malpractice committed by the presiding officer.
“By hampering the work of the MCD, common people were suffering as no work was getting done in areas where the poor people live. The councillors were not being allowed to raise questions related to development and people’s welfare in the MCD House due to BJP’s strong-arm tactics. As a result, the cleanliness and upkeep of the city have been affected,” she added.
This newspaper was the first to report on the AAP and Congress contesting the mayoral polls as allies this time to acknowledge their alliance under the INDIA bloc.
Though the alliance between AAP and Congress was only limited to the Lok Sabha election, the Mayoral polls would take place before the general elections. Hence, both the parties are cautious to not give BJP any ground to infer trouble in their pact. Besides, the arrest of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal has changed the dynamics and made Congress show full solidarity with AAP.
In previous two polls, the Congress councillors remained abstained from voting in favour of any of the parties.
AAP welcomes decision
AAP leader and the party’s MCD in-charge Durgesh Pathak expressed confidence that the AAP-Congress alliance will win the April 26 polls by a huge margin. “We welcome this move (of the Congress). Together, we will fight against dictatorship and a corrupt government. The AAP and the Congress will together contest the MCD election and win the polls by a huge margin,” Pathak said.