Mumbai: Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut on Sunday said that AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal recently told him and Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray that he had favoured an alliance with Congress in Haryana and Delhi before the assembly elections there, but the grand old party had rebuffed overtures. In Delhi, Congress only wanted to defeat “anti-Modi” Kejriwal and not BJP, the AAP chief was quoted as having said.
In his weekly column in Sena (UBT) mouthpiece Saamna, Raut said Kejriwal told him and Thackeray in Delhi that his party had even agreed to contest only two seats in the Haryana polls last year, but Congress refused to finalise a deal. Not only did Congress face defeats in Haryana and Delhi, but it also scored a duck for the third consecutive time in the latter.
Drawing parallels with the scenario in Maharashtra, Raut said, “Maharashtra was lost because of ego and the ‘only us’ attitude, rather than EVMs. Now, the same thing happened in Delhi. As much as Congress is responsible for Kejriwal’s defeat, Kejriwal himself is also responsible. He also had ambitions to become the Prime Minister but changed the path from which he started.”
The Sena (UBT) MP said that the dialogue among allies of the INDIA opposition bloc has ended but the Congress leadership is in no mood to restart it.