Sheila Dikshit, the three-time Delhi chief minister who took over as the Congress party’s Delhi unit chief recently, hit out at Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal saying that the Congress would hold programmes in all districts to make Delhiites aware of the “propaganda” of the Aam Aadmi Party government.
Dikshit was speaking at a meeting of District and Block Congress Committee presidents at the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) office, as part of the party’s preparations for the coming Lok Sabha elections in Delhi. DPCC working presidents Haroon Yusuf and Rajesh Lilothia were also present in the meeting.
In the meeting, it was also decided that the DPCC will hold conventions in their respective areas from next week, which would be addressed by the recently elected Pradesh Congress president Sheila Dikshit.
Dikshit while speaking to the members of DPCC said that in order to strengthen the Congress party, she would hold ‘Jag Jagran Abhiyan’ in each district in which the Delhiites would be made aware of the false promises and propaganda and the corruption of the AAP. “In the last four years, the AAP Government in Delhi has not done anything for the development of Delhi,” she said.
Lambasting at the Aam Aadmi party for not carrying out any development work in the past four years Dikshit said that the “truth” was that Kejriwal was “taking credit for the development works carried out by the Congress government during its 15-year rule”.
She said the AAP government was “misleading” Delhiites when it came to their mohalla clinics and other healthcare services.
She added that with the Lok Sabha elections round the corner, the Congress would aim to win all seven seats in Delhi, for which the district and block committee presidents would be the backbone.
“Ms Dikshit said that the confusing statements of the BJP and the AAP, their corruption, wrong policies and failures should be told to the people to make them aware about such matters,” the DPCC statement said.
Earlier, criticising the Arvind Kejriwal-led party over the resolution introduced to withdraw the Bharat Ratna given to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, Dikshit had denied any possibility of forming an alliance with AAP. She had said that “there is no question of aligning with them after what they have done. I have always had the opinion that the Congress must stay away and fight on its own. We can do it and it’s not difficult. We just have to be together and fight.”
Taking a jibe at the Aam Aadmi party, Dikshit said that it is a small party and such a small party keeps coming and going, “The AAP is not something we have to worry about. It’s a political party that is confined to Delhi. Where is its presence in other states? Where is it in Gujarat or Rajasthan? It’s a small party and will come and go,” she said.
Regarding speculations of a tie-up with AAP, Congress veteran reiterated that “Working with AAP in any way is not possible. I have never said that I am willing for any kind of an alliance. If I have been quoted in this context, I would like to clarify that I have been misunderstood. We are not exploring an alliance with AAP.” Referring to a statement by AAP that such a tie-up was not on the cards, she told NDTV, “This is something they are just repeating. They only said what we already said.”
Last year in July, commenting on the ‘conflict‘ between the Delhi government and Lieutenant-Governor (L-G) Anil Baijal, Sheila Dikshit had lashed out at the AAP saying that it was there ‘creation’. Dikshit had then said that there was no conflict with the L-G when she was in power from 1998 to 2013 “because the constitution clearly defines the roles of the chief minister, ministers and the L-G”. She had then also clearly disapproved AAP’s ‘style’ of working.
