CM, Sisodia too hand-in-glove with BJP: Cong

Maken says AAP was born to eat into traditional vote base of party

The Aam Aadmi Party is the Bteam of the BJP that always attempts to divide the traditional voter base of the Congress — Ajay Maken, DPCC chief

Amid rift in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Congress, on Wednesday, alleged that the Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwalled party is the “B-team of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)” and its top leaders, including Mr Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia, are in cahoots with the saffron party.

Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken also alleged that the BJP supported the Anna Hazare-led anti-graft campaign out of which the AAP was born to eat into the traditional vote base of his party, which includes residents of slums and resettlement colony.

The AAP’s internal conflict came out in open after its Okhla MLA Amantullah Khan accused the senior party leader Kumar Vishwas of having connections with the BJP and RSS. Following this, Mr Vishwas accused Mr Khan of being a “mask” behind those ganging up against him.

After the emotional outburst, he had threatened to quit the party. Mr Khan was suspended from the party on Wednesday and a committee has been formed to probe his comments against the former.

“Not just Kumar Vishwas, Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia too are hand-in-glove with the RSS. The Aam Aadmi Party is the B-team of the BJP that always attempts to divide the traditional voter base of the Congress,” Mr Maken said.

Ahead of the recent Assembly polls in Punjab, the AAP had promised to make a dalit the deputy chief minister, while in Goa, they named a Christian as the party’s chief ministerial nominee to target the traditional vote base of the Congress, he alleged.

Mr Maken, whose resignation as the Delhi Congress chief was recently turned down by the Congress high command, claimed that the traditional voters are coming back to the party fold.

“Our vote share was 9 per cent in the 2015 Delhi Assembly polls. It has gone up to 22 per cent in the municipal elections, indicating that the traditional voters are coming back to us,” Mr Maken said.