Why Congress is at odds with its AAP strategy?

New Delhi: The Congress party's strategy to go after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and not corner the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over a Delhi court's verdict, discharging former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, his close aide Manish Sisodia and others in the liquor policy case, has come as a surprise to many.

Commenting on the verdict, the grand old party sought to remind Kejriwal and the AAP of its so-called vilification campaign against former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the UPA government and Sonia Gandhi and her family in 2011-12.

Kejriwal formed the AAP in 2012 following differences with Anna Hazare over converting the India Against Corruption (IAC) into a political party.

The IAC (Anna Hazare movement) is widely blamed for creating a negative public perception against the Congress-led UPA government over the allegations of corruption that eventually resulted in the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi coming to power in 2014.

The Congress suffered the worst ever drubbing in its electoral history, winning just 44 of the 543 Lok Sabha seats. Modi and the BJP have continued to be in power since then.

But before that, in 2013, the Congress and the AAP joined hands to form a coalition government in Delhi.

The Congress virtually slept with its enemy, then given that the two sides crossed swords with the AAP leaders going after its leadership and the then chief minister Sheila Dikshit.

However, the coalition survived only 49 days as the AAP decided to snap its ties with the Congress over the Janlokpal issue.
The two parties remained sworn enemies till the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, when the Congress appeared desperate to strike an alliance with the AAP.

But Kejriwal was unwilling to give the Congress more than two seats.

The alliance finally did not take shape, but a post on X by Rahul Gandhi was enough to gauge the Congress party’s desperation for a tie-up.

"An alliance between the Congress & AAP in Delhi would mean the rout of the BJP. The Congress is willing to give up 4 Delhi seats to the AAP to ensure this. But, Mr Kejriwal has done yet another U-turn! Our doors are still open, but the clock is running out," Rahul Gandhi had then posted on X.

An alliance between the Congress & AAP in Delhi would mean the rout of the BJP. The Congress is willing to give up 4 Delhi seats to the AAP to ensure this.

But, Mr Kejriwal has done yet another U turn!

Our doors are still open, but the clock is running out. #AbAAPkiBaari

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) April 15, 2019

The two sides continued to be bitter enemies, and it was first the Delhi Congress that filed a complaint against the AAP government's liquor policy in 2022.

The equations remained unchanged till the AAP became a part of the INDIA bloc ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Subsequently, the two parties fought the polls in alliance with the AAP contesting on four seats and the Congress on three. However, the two parties failed to defeat the BJP, which won all seven seats in Delhi.

The few months of bonhomie between the two parties saw Sonia Gandhi and Kejriwal's wife Sunita sharing the stage at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan when the AAP supremo was in jail in connection with the liquor scam.

But the gloves were off soon after as the Congress decided to go solo in the 2025 Delhi elections. It was back to square one for the two parties as they turned into sworn enemies after a brief camaraderie during the Lok Sabha elections.

The question is whether Kejriwal and the AAP are responsible for the debacle of the Congress at the national level, and if they are, why did the grand old party choose to sleep with the enemy during brief intervals? What had changed then? And if the BJP was the bigger enemy for them then, it continues to be so even now.