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It is not the Congress' responsibility to make the Aam Aadmi Party win, party spokesperson Supriya Shrinate told NDTV Saturday, as counting for the Delhi Assembly election was underway. "The onus of making the AAP win is not on the Congress... we will look for fertile political bastions and try to win these over, and Delhi is a place where we have been in the government for 15 years," she said firmly.
"Our responsibility is not making the AAP win," Ms Shrinate reiterated, adding, "Our responsibility is mounting a spirited campaign and contesting this election (or any other) as strongly as we can."
"By that logic... Arvind Kejriwal went to Goa, Haryana, Gujarat, Uttarakhand... (to contest the election in each state)... and, in Goa and Uttarakhand, the vote-share difference between us and the BJP was exactly what the AAP got," she said, suggesting the saffron party may have been beaten otherwise.
In Goa, the BJP got 40.3 per cent of the votes, while the Congress got 13.5 per cent and the AAP 12.8 per cent. In Uttarakhand, the BJP got 44.3 per cent, the Congress 37.9, and the AAP 4.82.
Ms Shrinate's sharp comments come amid criticism of the Congress over its leadership of the INDIA bloc, which was meant to unite the opposition to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party.
That however, has not been the case; since the bloc was formed in June 2023, it has failed to rein in the BJP, with the party (or an ally) winning a majority of the 13 state elections conducted since then.
And massive defeats in Haryana and Maharashtra last year - fueled by talk of rifts between the Congress and INDIA bloc allies in each state - i.e., Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena and Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party, and the AAP - further spotlighted the Congress' leadership of the bloc.
READ | "Arrogant": Allies Twist Knife After Congress' Haryana Loss
That rift was out in full public view ahead of this Delhi election, with senior leaders from each side - Rahul Gandhi from the Congress and Arvind Kejriwal from the AAP - taking potshots at each other.
READ | Rahul Gandhi vs Kejriwal Rumbles On With "Paris Wali Delhi" Jab
Mr Gandhi fired several barbs at Mr Kejriwal and the AAP, including taking them to task over allegations of the BJP's Haryana government had mixed "poison" in the Yamuna water supplied to the national capital. The Congress leader also attacked the AAP over the alleged liquor policy scam.
READ | Rahul Gandhi Calls Kejriwal "Architect Of Liquor Scam", He Responds
The AAP, meanwhile, hit back by claiming the BJP and the Congress were 'in cahoots' with each other, and that they were conspiring to defeat the 'people's government'.
And talk of that rift resurfaced this morning after the BJP raced into a big early lead.
However, Ms Shrinate insisted that her party could be held accountable for the AAP's poor performance, and that Mr Kejriwal would be called out for bad governance, just as the BJP would.
"When and where you need to be called out, you will. This attempt of the AAP and political analysts at large, or even by allies, to say 'wapas mat lado', or 'don't fight amongst yourselves'... all of us assess our political bastions and fight the battles we need to fight," she said.
The Congress leader's response was particularly significant after another INDIA bloc member - Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah - tweeted a jab at the alliance. Mr Abdullah and his National Conference had allied with the Congress for last year's J&K election, but did not need the help.
READ | "Aur Lado": Omar Abdullah's Jab At INDIA Allies AAP, Congress
The National Conference swept to victory on its own steam.
Exit polls had predicted a big win for the BJP in this Delhi election, a result the AAP had dismissed, saying it would return to form a third consecutive solo government in the national capital.
That, however, seems unlikely, after the BJP raced into a massive early lead; the party was ahead in over 50 of Delhi's 70 seats at one point. By 11 am the trends settled into a comfortable win for the BJP.
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