Cong is BJP's 'A-plus' team; Rahul should stop colluding with it if he wants to defeat it: Atishi

Panaji, Aug 19 (PTI) Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Atishi on Tuesday accused the Congress of being the BJP's "A-plus team", and said if Rahul Gandhi truly wants to defeat the ruling party, he should end his party's "collusion" with it.

Talking to PTI in Goa, she pointed out that while AAP leaders were jailed without the recovery of any money, no senior Congress leader ever faced similar action, indicating thereby that it was in collusion with the BJP.

"There is definite collusion between BJP and Congress at all levels...If Rahul Gandhi really wants to defeat the BJP, his party should stop colluding with them," the former Delhi chief minister said.

"None of the Congress leaders went to jail - be it in the National Herald case, cases against Robert Vadra or the Commonwealth Games scam where chargesheets were purposely made weak," she claimed.

On the other hand, AAP leaders went to jail without the recovery of even a single rupee, she added.

"Congress exists only to help BJP win either before or after elections. Congress is not just a B-team of BJP, it is an A-team, an A-plus team," she alleged.

Accusing the Congress of betraying its partners in the INDIA bloc, she said the AAP would not ally with the Congress in any state.

"Congress is a high-command driven party. In Delhi, they never campaigned for AAP candidates. Even when Arvind Kejriwal was out on bail for just three weeks, he campaigned for Congress leader Manish Tewari in Chandigarh despite his past criticism of him. But Congress never reciprocated," she said.

The AAP leader cited examples from Gujarat and Goa to claim that the Congress could not be trusted.

"In Gujarat's six bypolls, we supported Congress in five constituencies where its MLAs had defected, but when it came to AAP's seat, Congress fielded its own candidate," she said.

"Congress lost all five, while AAP won its seat. In Goa, too, three-time Congress MLAs defected to BJP. The perception is clear - voting for Congress means voting for BJP," she added. PTI RPS NP