AAP Welcomes Congress Support To Party Candidates In Delhi Mayor Polls

The AAP on Saturday welcomed the decision of the Congress to support its candidates in the upcoming Delhi mayoral polls.

Addressing a press conference here, senior Aam Aadmi Party leader and the party's Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) in-charge Durgesh Pathak expressed confidence that the AAP-Congress alliance will win the April 26 polls by a huge margin.

"We welcome this move (of the Congress). Together, we will fight against dictatorship and a corrupt government. The AAP and the Congress will together contest the MCD election and win the polls by a huge margin," Pathak said.

"The BJP resorted to hooliganism in the last election but still lost the polls. Our only mission is to save the country and its Constitution," he added, accusing the saffron party of asking for votes by telling people that it will amend the Constitution if elected.

Pathak said the "country is going through a very difficult time".

"Today, when BJP leaders are going to ask for votes, they are openly saying, you give us votes and we will amend the Constitution. It is the same Constitution that gave rights to women and Dalits and was framed after so many struggles by B R Ambedkar," he added.

Earlier, Delhi Congress president Arvinder Singh Lovely told a press conference that his party's councillors will support the AAP candidates in the polls to elect the mayor and deputy mayor of the national capital.

The announcement to this effect was jointly made by the communication department chairman of the Delhi Congress and former MLA Anil Bhardwaj, the party's MCD in-charge Jitendra Kumar Kochhar and its leader in the MCD House, Nazia Danish, at the press conference held at Rajiv Bhawan.

"To ensure that democracy is not embarrassed, what happened in the Chandigarh mayoral polls does not happen in the MCD election, the Congress will support the AAP candidates for the posts of mayor and deputy mayor in the public interest," Bharadwaj said.

Responding to the development, Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor ridiculed Pathak for thanking the Congress for joining hands with them while the AAP councillors are rebelling against the party by self declaring their nomination for mayoral polls.

"Many councillors of the Aam Aadmi Party are now listening to the voice of their soul and are keeping distance from the party which is immersed in the quagmire of corruption. Many AAP councillors from Scheduled Castes had joined the party with high hopes of bringing about a change in the lives of the people of their caste, but today they are disappointed," Kapoor added.

The AAP declared its candidates for the polls on Thursday. It has fielded Mahesh Khichi for the mayor's post and Ravinder Bhardwaj for the deputy mayor's post.

After the AAP announced its candidates for the polls, two more party councillors -- Vijay Kumar and Narendra Kumar -- filed their nominations for the deputy mayor's post, indicating internal conflict in the party.

On Friday, AAP councillor Vijay Kumar posted a video on X, announcing his candidature for the post of deputy mayor and accused the AAP of not following democratic values.

"I will contest the election for deputy mayor and I will win. Please do not put any pressure on me and my family," he captioned the video.

Responding to Kumar's self-declaration of his candidature, the party had said, "A true soldier of Arvind Kejriwal always believes in party discipline unwaveringly and will refuse to become a puppet of the BJP, regardless of any temptations offered." "We are fighting with a demonic power called the BJP. They will try all deceitful tricks and tactics imaginable to unsettle AAP. The BJP prioritises negative politics over governance, resorting to baseless tactics like unjustly imprisoning Arvind Kejriwal and attempting to dismantle our party," it said.

Khichi (45) represents Dev Nagar ward number 84 in the MCD House and has been associated with the AAP since its inception in 2012. He was also a part of the 2011 India Against Corruption (IAC) movement that led to the birth of the Arvind Kejriwal-led party.

Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded Kishan Lal for the post of mayor and Neeta Bisht for the deputy mayor's post.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)