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Punjab Congress takes ‘Hitler’ jab at Kejriwal, Mann amid pact in key polls
Bajwa's remarks came hours before Congress and AAP teamed up to take on the BJP in Chandigarh mayoral polls.
Leader of opposition in the Punjab assembly and Congress leader Pratap Singh Bajwa on Wednesday equated chief minister Bhagwant Mann and his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal with Adolf Hitler and said the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders should remove pictures of BR Ambedkar and Bhagat Singh from their offices and put up the picture of the former German dictator.
"The first thing I would like to advise them is to pull down the pictures of Baba Saheb Ambedkar and Bhagat Singh from their offices and replace them with Adolf Hitler. And if you carefully see the picture of Hitler, it matches with one of their (AAP) leaders," Bajwa said, adding that the AAP government practices “dictatorial government”.
Bajwa's remarks came hours before both allies of the major Opposition coalition, in a rare show of unity at the local level, teamed up in what is seen as the ‘first match of BJP vs INDIA (bloc)’ ahead of the Chandigarh mayoral election.
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"Congress and APP in Chandigarh have become the first constituents of Indian National Democratic Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) parties to implement the decisions and sentiments of INDIA to not let BJP win elections by default," senior Congress leader Pawan Bansal wrote on X (formerly Twitter) after pictures of him and AAP MP Raghav Chadha chatting together in a lawn were surfaced.
However, the political tension between Congress and AAP appears to be surfacing not very far from Chandigarh in the Punjab assembly, and the leader of the opposition's comment bellies the unity call of the INDIA allies.
Despite being members of the larger coalition in the centre, Congress and AAP often don't match their steps at the state level. The decision to jointly contest the mayoral polls came in the backdrop of leaders from both parties demanding to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in the state separately, apart from setting up an alliance.
