New Delhi (India), February 12: Congress leader and former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Wednesday addressed the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) allegations regarding the Delhi elections, asserting that the public has lost faith in AAP and emphasizing that Congress has prepared itself for a future role in the city’s politics.
In a post on X, Gehlot refuted the claims made by AAP, which had suggested that Congress played a role in their defeat during the Delhi elections. He described these allegations as “completely baseless” and stressed that AAP itself had contributed to Congress’ losses in other states by dividing the votes.
“The allegations leveled by Aam Aadmi Party against Congress for making them lose in Delhi are completely baseless. In fact, Aam Aadmi Party has made Congress lose in many states where they had no base but contested elections there only with the objective of cutting Congress’ votes,” Gehlot wrote.
He pointed out that AAP’s contests in states like Gujarat, Goa, and Uttarakhand, where Congress was in a strong position against the BJP, resulted in vote splitting that ultimately benefited the BJP. Gehlot claimed that many of the AAP candidates who won or lost in these states later joined other political parties, including the BJP, which he argued was evidence that AAP had acted with the sole purpose of harming Congress.
The Congress leader further affirmed that by contesting elections independently in Delhi, the Congress had set the stage for its future political role. “I am confident that in the coming days, the Congress will play the role of the main opposition in Delhi and will prepare the background for the upcoming elections. The public has now lost faith in the Aam Aadmi Party,” he added.
In the recent Delhi Assembly elections, the BJP made a historic comeback, securing 48 out of 70 seats and returning to power after 27 years. The AAP’s tally dropped significantly from 62 to 22 seats.
Meanwhile, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut suggested that if Congress and AAP had worked together, the BJP might not have secured such a decisive victory. Raut urged Congress to adopt a more inclusive approach within the INDIA alliance and called on the party to take all allies along.
“Congress is our senior partner in the INDIA bloc, and everyone working in the alliance believes it is the responsibility of the bigger partner to take everyone along,” Raut said, referring to Congress. He further added that the failure to discuss and compromise between Congress and AAP contributed to AAP’s loss and Congress gaining little from it.
Raut concluded that both parties—AAP and Congress—shared responsibility for the defeat in the Delhi elections, underscoring the importance of maturity and patience in alliance politics. “There should be no ego in alliance politics. Congress, as the elder brother in the alliance, must always fulfill its responsibility with patience and maturity,” he asserted.