Congress in bind over Aam Aadmi Party support

A fresh debate has started in the Congress over the decision to support AAP-led government in Delhi. The situation comes in the wake of two events — the ongoing AAP agitation led by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and finance minister P Chidambaram’s remark that outside support to the new party was “unnecessary”.

A fresh debate has started in the Congress over the decision to support AAP-led government in Delhi. The situation comes in the wake of two events – the ongoing AAP agitation led by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and finance minister P Chidambaram’s remark that outside support to the new party was “unnecessary”.

There had been reservations within the Congress over the providing external support to the AAP during the government formation.

And in an interview to The Indian Express, Chidambaram had said it was a decision of the party’s Delhi unit. Despite making it clear that it was his personal view, the finance minister had said, “We were neither voted to form the government nor voted to be the principal opposition party. We should have just kept quiet”.

Now, with Kejriwal involved in a tussle over the suspension of four policemen for inaction – the subtext being the transfer of the control over the police force from the Centre to the Delhi government — the Congress is caught in a bind.

Most leaders feel if they pull the plug on the AAP government now, it will make a “martyr” of Kejriwal and enable him to garner public sympathy. Others feel that given time, the AAP will fall on its own, since it is becoming “gradually unpopular” with steps that cause inconvenience to the public.

I&B minister Manish Tewari — who was forced to walk to Shram Shakti Bhawan after his car was stopped by AAP activists — said it was high time the party made the “transition from being agitators to administrators”.

“It was not given a mandate by the people of Delhi to create anarchy,” he said.