How an alliance with AAP be a death knell for Congress in Punjab

Chandigarh: The central leaderships of Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have already become part of the Indian National Development Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the general election, due next year.

In Punjab, the rift between Congress and Aam Aadmi Party reached new heights after the Bhagwant Mann government recently arrested Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira in an eight-year-old drug trafficking case, which the Congress categorically called a witch-hunting.

Despite the talks of the alliance at the national level between both parties, the public display of bitterness between both parties in Punjab has been growing fast and thick.

Since defeating Congress in the state assembly election last year in March, the AAP government initiated a corruption investigation against as many as 17 of its rivals, most of them Congress leaders including former chief minister (CM) Charanjit Singh Channi and former deputy CM OP Soni.

Some of the former Congress ministers like Bharat Bhushan Ashu, SS Arora, and Sadhu Dharamsot had already served time in jail.

Khaira's arrest, who was shockingly picked up from his Chandigarh residence early morning on September 28, has only worsened their relationship as reflected in the statements of top state Congress leadership.

Sending a strong message, Congress's leader of the Opposition, Partap Singh Bajwa in a latest statement on Monday equated the possible alliance with the AAP in Punjab to “death warrants of the Congress”, which he said he could never sign.

Bajwa also added that he along with Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring had held meetings of all MLAs, Punjab Congress Committee.

"All of them told us in the simplest possible terms that they don’t want any alliance with the AAP. This alliance, we all believe, will finish the Congress,” he said.

Soon after Khaira's arrest, state Congress leadership also met the Punjab governor, conveying that AAP had unleashed a witch-hunt campaign against the Congress leaders and workers by misusing the police and investigation agencies.

On the contrary, there is no dearth of leaders in AAP as well, who are also voicing their concerns against the possible alliance between both parties, citing Congress as a corrupt party and AAP as an honest party.

Even as senior AAP leader and finance minister Harpal Cheema spoke in favour of alliance over larger national interest to defeat BJP, his cabinet colleague and Punjab Tourism Minister Anmol Gagan Maan stated otherwise.

"We do not need any alliance with the Congress. We are an honest party. People had given us a strong mandate in 2022 polls and they continue to be with us,” she said during a function last month.

Political analyst Harjeshwar Pal Singh told Newsdrum that the election pact between AAP and Congress looked utmost difficult after the way Khaira was arrested by the AAP government. The central leadership of Congress too took note of it.

"Even if somehow both the parties manage to come together due to national compulsions of their central leadership and pressure of other INDIA bloc partners, this might hurt Congress even further in Punjab since AAP has not at all diverted from its anti-Congress narrative in the state, he added.

AAP's rise in Punjab is closely linked to the non-performance of Congress as well as Shiromani Akali Dal, which shared power interchangeably since state reorganisation in 1966.

Some also believe that if AAP enters into an alliance with a party it opposed to win state polls, this might even burn some holes in their own camp too especially when they arrested so many Congress leaders on corruption and other heinous charges.