Is Congress on the path of regaining its lost ground and trying to assert itself in states irrespective of its position in the opposition coalition of INDIA? Is Rahul Gandhi trying to stop Arvind Kejriwal from emerging as a contender for the bloc’s leader?

When Rahul Gandhi slammed Arvind Kejriwal and compared the AAP with the BJP, political observers were not shocked. It was clear early that no love was lost between the two parties.

Delhi Assembly Elections 2025:Knives Out

Now, the gloves are off, and the knives are out. It is clear that the two parties will go their separate ways and face off in the Delhi Assembly Elections 2025.

The talks on pre-poll seat adjustment collapsed last month after Kejriwal declared unilateraly that the AAP would contest the polls alone and would not join hands with any party.

It was a departure from the recent past. The Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress joined hands to fight the Lok Sabha elections in 2024, but neither of them could win a single seat.

It was the only election in which the two parties had a seat adjustment deal. The results did not encourage them.

AAP On Ruins Of Congress!

The AAP was founded when the Anna Hazare movement was on its peak and the anti-Congress sentiments in Delhi were on the top. The anti-corruption movement, launched by Hazare and Kejriwal, targeted the Congress.

The party that has been in power for 15 years lost miserably in the elections in 2013. Stalwarts like then Chief Minister Sheila Dixit lost the polls.

Political analysts believe, the Congress wants to regain the ground that it has lost to regional parties. It is believed that the regional parties have thrived by eating into the vote bank of the grand old party.

Congress Strategy To Regain Lost Grounds

The Congress has indicated its strategy on earlier occasions too. Congress spokesperson Supriya Srinate once made it clear when she said “We respect our allies, but the reality is that many have thrived on the grounds lost by the Congress and the Congress is not an NGO.”

She said further, “We are a political outfit and on democracy if we feel the need to reclaim our territory, we will do anything to revive ourselves.”

The leaders of Delhi Congress earlier urged the central leaders to contest the polls alone so that they could assert themselves and hit out at the ruling party, holding it responsible for the unfulfilled promises made to the people and the alleged failure of the AAP government.

Will Congress Take On AAP?

The Congress lost its ground to the AAP is clear by the fact the latter has thrived on its support base. The Congress got

The party got 29% of the votes in the 2013 Delhi Assembly Elections and won 28 seats in the 70-member House.

The Congress was pushed to third place with 24.5% of the votes cast and just eight assembly seats. It slipped to 9.7% votes in 2015. The party touched its nadir in 2020 with a dismal 4.3% of votes polled.

The AAP seems to have grabbed the votes of Congress by polling 54.6% in 2015 and 53.6% vote in 2020.

It’s high time that the Congress takes on the AAP and regain its lost ground.

Can Arvind Kejriwal Challenge Rahul Gandhi?

Political analysts also believe Rahul Gandhi is upset with the fact that Arvind Kejriwal may emerge as a contender for the leader’s post of the INDIA bloc. It has been found in surveys that the AAP leader has emerged as the most popular leader among the opposition bloc after the Congress leader.

Earlier TMC claimed that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee could lead the INDIA bloc. The Congress has a bitter relationship with the TMC and the two parties fought the state election separately.

Mamata Banerjee too refused to join hands with the Congress. In Lok Sabha election 2024, she once again refused to accommodate the grand old party.

Political observers feel Rahul Gandhi does not want another leader to challenge him.

This is the reason he has taken a dig at Kejriwal and compared him with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Addressing a public meeting at “Jai Bapu, Jai Bhim, Jai Samvidhan” programme in Seelampur, the Gandhi scion said,
“Arvind Kejriwal had said that he would clean Delhi, remove corruption, and turn the national capital into Paris. What actually happened – one cannot move around due to pollution and inflation is rising.”

Arvind Kejriwal Hits Back At Rahul Gandhi

The AAP leader hit back and said while Rahul Gandhi was fighting to save the Congress, his fight is “to save the country”.

He said, “His fight is to save Congress, my fight is to save the country.”

Taking to social media platform X, he wrote in a post, “Today, Rahul Gandhi came to Delhi. He abused me a lot. But I will not comment on his statements.”

The AAP leader also wondered that the BJP had hit back at him for criticising the Gandhi scion.

He said, “I said just one line about Rahul Gandhi and the reply is coming from the BJP.”

Arvind Kejriwal has made his point clear. He will not spare Rahul Gandhi, who has targeted him.