Delhi, Punjab Units Caution Congress Against Kejriwal Outreach

As the Congress appears to be getting closer to the Aam Aadmi Party, the Delhi unit of the grand old party has cautioned against the same.

Congress leaders from Delhi and Punjab have warned their party against supporting the AAP in its battle against the ruling BJP over the ordinance which gives the centre control over bureaucrats posted in the city.

The Congress leaders are said to have met with party president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi to convey their concerns. They have however left it to the high command to take a final decision.

AAP chief and Delhi Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal has reached out to multiple parties over the past couple of weeks to drum up support for his cause against the ordinance. The AAP does not have the numbers to defeat the ordinance in the Lok Sabha. So far it has been supported by the TMC, Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena faction, Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party and others, including the Congress. This would be enough for it to defeat the ordinance in the Rajya Sabha.

Kejriwal has also received a positive response from Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United) and K Chandrashekhar Rao's Bharat Rashtra Samithi. The Congress is however proving to be a harder nut to crack.

On Saturday, Delhi Congress chief, Anil Chaudhary said that his party should not be supporting Kejriwal because of the mistake he had made in praising the BJP earlier. His comments came in the back drop of another Congress leader, Ajay Maken saying that the AAP had not supported the Congress.

Kejriwal will need 31 MPs of the Congress, that of the TMC, NCP and others on his side to defeat the BJP and its allies.