Days after the announcement of an alliance of opposition parties, named I.N.D.I.A and which included the AAP and Congress, the Punjab Congress unit has expressed its disapproval of joining hands with the Arvind Kejriwal-led party. Punjab LoP and Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa said there is no question of Punjab Congress forming an alliance with the ruling AAP party.
“Congress for a long time has been one of the two major parties of Punjab…People wanted a change, they brought these people (AAP) to power and people have been suffering…Punjab has been suffering be it economically, law & order and otherwise also…I am sure in the 2024 parliamentary elections Congress will come back with a big margin. One alliance is led by BJP the other by Congress, so when cast their vote it is going to be either for BJP or for Congress. AAP does not figure anywhere. Why should we form an alliance with AAP?” Bajwa told ANI.
Objecting to the formation of an alliance with Congress, Bajwa said, “Punjab Congress unit is completely against this (forming an alliance with AAP)… I will meet Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday and will request him to not forge an alliance with them (AAP). We were not in alliance with them in past and will not be in future also.”
Earlier, Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Warring too voiced similar apprehensions regarding the party’s inclination to stitch an alliance comprising AAP. He accused the AAP of targeting its party leaders and said former Punjab Deputy Chief Minister OP Soni was “forcibly put in jail”.
He emphasised that the treatment their leaders received, being targeted and imprisoned, has reached an unacceptable level. Although they refrained from complaining in the past, the recent arrest of their Deputy Chief Minister (former) OP Soni, who is unwell, and was forcefully incarcerated, has crossed the line. Warring held the AAP accountable for any adverse consequences that may befall Soni while in custody. He made it clear that reconciliation between the Congress and AAP in Punjab is out of the question.
The disapproval came days after 26 opposition parties, including Congress and AAP, agreed to be a part of the alliance, dubbed as I.N.D.I.A or the Indian National Democratic Inclusive Alliance, in a bid to stop the Modi juggernaut. However, the staunch opposition it has countered from the Punjab Congress unit suggests that the alliance, which is in all likelihood a consortium of opportunistic political parties driven by the common goal of ousting Modi rather than ideological convergence, may well be on shaky ground as the latent internecine differences surface and threaten to unravel a tenuous coalition.