AAP, Congress Lend Support to Each Other’s Campaigns in Delhi as Kejriwal’s Return Pumps Up INDIA Bloc

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Congress are busy campaigning for each other’s candidates with just two days left before campaigning ends for Delhi elections.

While Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal campaigned for Congress candidate Kanhaiya Kumar late on Tuesday night after returning from Jamshedpur in Jharkhand, Congress leader and former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot campaigned for AAP’s South Delhi candidate and MLA Sahiram Pehelwan.

In Bhajanpura, with Kanhaiya Kumar following him in a separate vehicle, Kejriwal was back in his characteristic form. “While in jail, one day, I was watching TV… each cell has a TV and I saw that the Supreme Court had granted me bail. It was a miracle. The blessings of Bajrangbali are on me, I am a devotee of Bajrangbali and he orchestrated this miracle for me. Modi-ji had tried his best to keep me inside. However, he had to surrender to Bajrangbali’s wishes,” said the chief minister.

Chanting slogans of ‘Jai Bajrangbali, Jai Shriram’, Kejriwal continued with his familiar refrain that he was sent to jail so that work could be halted in Delhi, how he was denied insulin in jail, and how he would soon initiate the disbursal of Rs 1,000 for women. “Agar aap ne Kamal ka button daba diya, toh mujhe jail jana padega. Aur agar aap yahan se haath ka, panje ka button dabaoge, toh mujhe jail nahi jana padega [If you vote for BJP, I will have to go to jail. But if you vote for Congress, I will not have to return to prison],” said Kejriwal.

Kumar joined Kejriwal as the latter extended a hand to pull him up to the rooftop of the car and appealed to the people to vote for him: “You will not find the jhadoo [broom] button. You will find the ‘hand’ symbol at number 2. Press the number 2 button and make him( Kumar) win by a huge majority and defeat Rinkiya ke Pappa (MP Manoj Tewari).”

Kumar was the first Congress candidate to meet Kejriwal’s wife Sunita when the Delhi chief minister was still in jail. He had followed it up with another visit after Kejriwal was released on bail.

Kumar is up against Manoj Tiwari, the two-time sitting MP. Tiwari, fighting to defend his seat, said these elections were about deciding the prime minister and people do not have anyone else in their minds except for PM Modi.

Incidentally, other AAP leaders, ministers and MLAs have also been lending support to the Congress candidates in North East, North West and Chandni Chowk. Similarly, Congress office-bearers and former legislators also campaigned for the AAP candidates. Kejriwal has already campaigned for Congress candidates Udit Raj in the North West constituency and JP Agarwal in the Chandni Chowk constituency.

On Monday, Congress leader and Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi, addressing his first rally in Delhi, had said: “It is a strange situation. Kejriwal-ji will vote for the Congress while I will vote for the AAP. In a way, our karyakartas have come together in these elections because our aim is to save the Constitution.”

However, while the AAP boss campaigned personally for Congress candidates, top leaders of Congress — Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge — have not yet campaigned for AAP candidates.

AAP’s Raghav Chadha, who is back in Delhi after a long stint in London, also hit the campaign trail for the first time in South Delhi. Pehelwan is up against BJP’s Ramvir Bidhuri, both of whom are MLAs. Speaking to reporters, Pilot said: “The INDIA bloc is very strong and we are well-placed in Delhi in all seven seats. All our candidates are fighting a strong election. We should be able to win all seven seats in Delhi.”

Unlike in 2014 and 2019, Delhi will see a bi-polar fight between the AAP-Congress on one side and the BJP on the other. In fact, the robust presence of people in the Nukkad Sabhas that are being addressed by the AAP boss are reminiscent of the 2013 Delhi assembly elections when AAP contested for the first time and won 28 seats.

Kejriwal’s release on interim bail by the Supreme Court has most certainly galvanised not just the AAP campaign but also that of the Congress in Delhi and the INDIA camp, infusing it with aggression and confidence.

Thirdly, even though the AAP has obtained the status of a ‘national party’, it is still not perceived as a stakeholder in the Lok Sabha elections where the Congress remains the principal opposition party. An alliance with Congress helps AAP in overcoming that hurdle. For the Congress, it could signal a revival in Delhi. After all, in the past 10 years, it has not been able to send a single MP from Delhi to Parliament and has zero MLAs in the assembly.

The 2024 Delhi elections, which almost seemed like a walkover for the BJP because of the over 50 per cent vote share in 2019 Lok Sabha, don’t look like that anymore.

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