Kejriwal highly unreliable; Mann has tacit understanding with BJP: Punjab Congress leaders to Kharge, Rahul

New Delhi: Congress leaders from Punjab on Tuesday vehemently opposed any tie-up with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), claiming that Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal is a highly unreliable person and his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann has a tacit understanding with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Majority of the 40 leaders told Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and his predecessor Rahul Gandhi that Kejriwal cannot be trusted as he has ditched his own party colleagues and that he is now pushing for an alliance since the AAP's credibility and popularity within the state has nosedived drastically in the past two years.

Hence, any tie-up with the AAP, which is a part of the INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) bloc, will prove counterproductive and electorally hurt the Congress in Punjab, they said.

The meeting was told that the Congress as of now was the number one party and it would register an outstanding performance in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, due April-May next year. The leaders claimed that the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) could outperform the AAP while the BJP was placed in the fourth position.

Some leaders alleged that Mann shares an excellent rapport with the BJP's national leadership and that is why many of his demands were promptly accepted by the central government.

The leaders also flagged the AAP's vendetta politics in Punjab and cited the daily harassment of former Congress ministers by the state police and vigilance departments. Some of them even claimed that the SAD-led government was better than the AAP regime.

Both Kharge and Rahul Gandhi assured the Punjab Congress leaders that any decision regarding the alliance with the AAP would be taken only after due consultations within the party.