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Disquiet as Congress post leaves out Kejriwal
AAP’s chief spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar said she would like to see Kejriwal as the prime ministerial candidate of the INDIA bloc.
A social media post by the Congress and a comment by an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) spokesperson on the leadership of the INDIA bloc sparked a controversy ahead of the grouping’s meeting in Mumbai from Thursday but the parties moved quickly to douse the row.
The Congress released a post on Instagram on Wednesday morning that featured senior leader Rahul Gandhi at the centre of a group of Opposition leaders but omitted Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal. Hours later, AAP’s chief spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar said she would like to see Kejriwal as the prime ministerial candidate of the INDIA bloc.
“If you ask me, I would want Arvind Kejriwal to be the PM candidate…He (Kejriwal) raises people’s issues and rises as a challenger,” she said.
But by evening, the row appeared settled. The Congress released a new poster on X, formerly Twitter, that featured all 11 chief ministers who are part of the INDIA bloc – including Kejriwal and Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann. The Instagram post was brought down later in the day.
The AAP also walked back Kakkar’s comment, saying it was her personal opinion. “Arvind Kejriwal is not in the race for being the prime minister. We have joined INDIA to save the country, its Constitution and democratic set up. We have not joined this alliance due to ambitions of becoming any minister or prime minister. We joined it to save India, and we are officially announcing that Arvind Kejriwal is not a PM candidate,” state minister Atishi said at a press conference.
There was no immediate reaction available from the Congress. The post on the party’s handle, with the new posted, said: “The power of INDIA”.
With 161 members of legislative assembly (MLAs) and 11 members of Parliament (10 Rajya Sabha and 1 Lok Sabha), and state governments in Delhi and Punjab, the AAP is one of the largest constituents of the INDIA bloc.
