New Delhi:
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday launched a campaign against INDIA Bloc ally and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal over rising 'pollution and inflation' at his first public rally for parliamentary elections in the national capital.
“Arvind Kejriwal had said he would clean up Delhi, remove corruption and turn the national capital into Paris. What actually happened – people cannot move because of pollution and inflation is rising,” Mr Gandhi said in his speech 'Jai Bapu, Jai Bhim , the public meeting of Jai Samvidhan in Seelampur.
“Arvind Kejriwal had spoken about eradicating corruption. Did he remove corruption? Pollution, corruption and inflation are on the rise in Delhi,” he said.
Reacting to the Leader of Opposition's blistering attack in the Lok Sabha, the AAP chief said while Mr Gandhi was fighting to save the Congress, “my fight is to save the country”.
“Today Rahul Gandhi came to Delhi. He abused me a lot. But I will not comment on his statements,” he wrote on X in Hindi.
Gandhi accused the AAP of being silent on the caste census issue and promised a caste inquiry in Delhi if Congress formed the government in the national capital.
The former Congress president sought popular support to make the party victorious in Delhi, where the party failed to win a single seat in the last two elections. He asserted that the party would ensure development of Delhi as it did in the past under the Sheila Dikshit government. “Neither (Arvind) Kejriwal nor the BJP can do what the Congress had done,” Gandhi said.
The Congress has highlighted the achievements of the 15-year rule under Sheila Dikshit.
In 2013, Arvind Kejriwal – then an aspiring politician – defeated the three-time chief minister in her New Delhi constituency.
For this year's elections, the Congress has fielded Sandeep Dikshit, Sheila Dikshit's son, against Mr Kejriwal.
The AAP and Congress have decided to go solo in the Assembly elections, months after the parties fought the Lok Sabha elections together in Delhi. Their Lok Sabha partnership ended in a debacle as the BJP won all seven seats.
Ahead of the Delhi assembly elections, the parties are locked in a bitter political battle, targeting each other over issues ranging from corruption and free social services such as free water, power, education, healthcare and bus travel.
The Delhi Congress has even released a 12-point “white paper” against the AAP and the BJP for the mismanagement of pollution, public amenities and law and order in the national capital.
In the 2020 Assembly elections, the AAP won 62 out of 70 seats and the BJP secured eight seats, while the Congress failed to open its account.
The elections to the 70-member Delhi Assembly will be held on February 5 and the counting of votes will take place on February 8.