'There May Not Be An Election After...': AAP Bats For Opposition Unity Ahead Of 2024 Lok Sabha Polls
AAP's national spokesperson and Delhi cabinet minister Saurabh Bharadwaj also targeted the Congress for allegedly copying ideas from the AAP's manifestos and called the party a "copycat".
New Delhi: If opposition parties do not come together to fight the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, it is possible that "there may not be an election in the country next time", the AAP alleged on Thursday.
At a press conference here, AAP's national spokesperson and Delhi cabinet minister Saurabh Bharadwaj also targeted the Congress for allegedly copying ideas from the AAP's manifestos and called the party a "copycat".
In response to a query on the opposition unity being sought on one side and the differences between the AAP and the Congress on the other side, he said, his party is willing to talk.
Pitching for opposition unity, he also claimed that if Narendra Modi is re-elected as the prime minister in 2024, there is a possibility that he may change the Constitution and declare himself as the country's "king" for as long as he is alive.
Asked about the AAP's agenda for the June 23 Opposition conclave in Patna, Bharadwaj said, "The big issue now is that if opposition parties do not fight (the 2024 elections) by coming together, then it is possible that there may not be an election in the country next time." The BJP is "trampling the Opposition by hook or by crook", he charged.
"The way CBI, ED and IT raids are being conducted against leaders of opposition parties and they are being put behind bars, there is a possibility that if Narendra Modi becomes the prime minister (again) in 2024, he will change the Constitution and declare that he will be the king of this country as long as he is alive. And the freedom of this country, for which countless people laid down their lives, would be lost," Bharadwaj claimed.
The June 23 meeting of opposition parties, organised by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, will see the anti-BJP players chalk out a strategy for the Lok Sabha polls.
Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva dubbed Bharadwaj's claims as "stupid" and "childish".
"Instead of levelling childish allegations, Bharadwaj should tell why his party is so desperate to hug even those parties and political leaders whom Kejriwal used to abuse and accuse of being corrupt," he said.
Bharadwaj also targeted the Congress for allegedly copying ideas from the AAP's manifestos and termed it a "copycat".
"The oldest party of the country, the Indian National Congress, not only has a crisis of leaders but a crisis of ideas too. After mocking Arvind Kejriwal and the AAP for their welfare schemes related to water and electricity, and free bus rides for women, it is now copying our ideas," he said.
Bharadwaj alleged that after mocking the AAP and making fun of its manifesto, the Congress party is now "word-by-word, stealing" the promises that the AAP had made to the people in its manifesto, and writing them down in their own manifesto.
There was no immediate reaction from the Congress.
"Before the Himachal Pradesh elections, the Congress party shamelessly copied the 'Kejriwal ki guarantee' and included it in its manifesto. It said that it would give 300 units of free electricity in the state," he claimed.
"In Punjab, when we had said that we would give a monthly allowance to women, the Congress party made fun of us. All their senior leaders, including Captain Amarinder Singh, Navjot Sidhu and Charanjit Singh Channi, said it was not possible and the AAP was just fooling the people. But, later the Congress went on to make the same announcement in Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka," he said.
This is a serious problem within the party and "I think that if they want to continue to remain a serious political contender, then the Congress needs to think about this seriously," he said.
Asked about the tussle between the AAP dispensation in Delhi and the Centre over services matters, Bharadwaj said the central government wants to stall the work of the elected government in the national capital.
The work to halt the welfare schemes through officers has started "on a war footing". Surgeries in private hospitals through Delhi hospitals are being halted and attempts are being made to "uproot people" living in JJ clusters, he charged.
"This is not happening randomly, but as part of a conspiracy on the directions of the Centre," he claimed.
(This story is published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)
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