Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav on January 8 said the INDIA bloc🅺 has lost its significance and was formed specifically for the Lok Sabha elections. Speaking to reporters in Bihar’s Buxar, Yadav said: “INDIA was formed just for the Lok Sabha elections and to stop the victory chariot of the BJP. It has no significance now. This is why the bickering between the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party ahead of the Delhi Assembly polls is not unexpected.”
The rift between the parties in the alliance has been happening when earlier AAP urged the other parties in the alliance to remove Congress. As parties gear-up for Delhi elections, on December 26, AAP said it would ask parties in the INDIA alliance🅺 to remove Congress from the bloc if the Congress does not act against its Delhi leader Ajay Maken. Delhi Chief Minister Atishi and AAP's Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh today accused the Congress of helping the BJP ahead of the Delhi Assembly polls due in February.
"Congress is doing everything to ensure that the BJP benefits in the election. Ajay Maken reads the BJP script, makes statements at the BJP's behest, and targets AAP leaders on BJP's instructions. And yesterday, he crossed all limits and called our leader Arvind Kejriwal anti-nation," Singh said at a press conference.
🌜The massive face-off comes months after the AAP and Congress contested the Lok Sabha polls in Delhi in alliance. During the general election, leaders of both parties had campaigned for each other's candidates.
Reports also showed that Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee🎃 had raised doubts about the INDIA leadership and expressed willingness to assume charge. RJD Chief Lalu Prasad Yadav echoed this and said Mamata was a better option than the Congress to helm the INDIA bloc, reports showed.
𒆙Additionally, similar opinions also emerged from the Samajwadi Party, National Conference leader Omar Abdullah, Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar (NCP-SP) and the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray). As per reports, these parties declared their support for Mamata for leadership in the alliance and expressed dissatisfaction over the way the alliance was being led.
