The tepid response of Congress president Mallakarjun Kharge and the fierce one by its Punjab leaders after the arrest of MLA Sukhpal Khaira in an old drugs case captures the dilemma that has hit the party over its alliance with the state’s ruling AAP as part of the INDIA front.
The Congress was forced to support the Aam Aadmi Party over the Delhi services bill when other alliance partners convinced the grand old party to forego its wariness of AAP for the sake of the larger goal of defeating the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. But despite the bonhomie when both Raghav Chadha and Arvind Kejriwal thanked Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge for supporting them over the Delhi bill and Chadha’s disqualification, the simmering discontent and mistrust remained.
At an internal meeting, many Punjab leaders had warned Rahul Gandhi that AAP could not be trusted. “They are like snakes, they will bite us,” they said. And when Arvind Kejriwal campaigned in poll-bound Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, which are seeing a straight fight between the BJP and Congress, the leaders turned around and said to the top leadership, “We told you so.”
With Khaira’s arrest, these naysayers stand vindicated. As the news came in, not just Khaira, but most Punjab Congress leaders like Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and Pratap Bajwa unleashed their wrath, accusing the Bhagwant Mann government of misusing the law and state machinery to decimate and demoralise their cadre in the state.
Notably, not many in the central leadership spoke equally strongly. And when they did, the response was tepid in comparison. Like Congress president Kharge said, “We will have to study the case. Injustice can not be tolerated.”
This exposes the party’s coalition compulsions, say observers. In a similar situation, when any TMC, DMK, or Congress leader faces the law, the opposition accuses the BJP of misusing agencies and political vendetta. Here, most opposition parties have remained silent.
Not just this, even as the CBI is probing alleged irregularities in the residential accommodation of Delhi CM Kejriwal, one hasn’t seen Congress leaders hit out at AAP or the party convener.
It’s these contradictory stands and dilemmas that expose the chinks in the armour of opposition unity. And it gives ammunition to the BJP to tell voters that the opposition unity is a mirage. The Congress can merely look on, with its hand tied.
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