Arvind Kejriwal excluded from Magenta Line inauguration: Congress backing AAP hints at alignment ahead of 2019 election

The queer twist in the tale of the Delhi Metro’s Magenta Line inauguration is the Congress’ overt support for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). The Congress on Monday slammed the BJP for not inviting Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal to the ceremony in Noida.

Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken tweeted:

CM should be given proper respect in any Metro Function

But BJP is habitually petty-

2002 Inauguration-
1) Delhi BJP Cheif ML Khurana made Chairman of Metro just 4 days before inauguration-

2) See the pictures, Sheila ji and me (Tpt Minister) deliberately pushed out of frame! pic.twitter.com/X3xrBj6Qp0

— Ajay Maken (@ajaymaken) December 24, 2017

The Magenta Line of the Delhi Metro, which connects Botanical Garden station with Kalkaji, was  inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi  on Monday. The exclusion of the Delhi chief minister  sparked a controversy as it is the norm to invite the concerned chief ministers for such events. When the Kochi Metro was inaugurated, Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, a stark opponent of the BJP, was seated near the prime minister.

AAP leader Sanjay Singh  slammed the BJP  in a press conference on Sunday. “ The BJP-led central government has so much hatred against the Delhi chief minister that the prime minister doesn’t like to sit or stand with him,” Singh alleged. He also added that not inviting Kejriwal showed the BJP’s ‘cheap mentality’.

Maken’s tweet supporting the AAP cause can be read as a sign that the two political parties growing closer. Are the AAP and Congress heading towards an alliance in 2019 Lok Sabha polls? This is a question that only the leadership can answer. But this isn’t the first such signal.

Just last week, Kejriwal took up for the Congress after the 2G spectrum verdict which acquitted all the accused.

Kejriwal retweeted a post by a twitter handle called @RealHistoryPic, which had a picture of former prime minister Manmohan Singh sarcastically saying, “All the arrests including ministers happened during my regime, all the acquittals happened during Modi’s regime.”

Kejriwal added his own comment:

So true... https://t.co/UTXXpYp4Ai

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) December 22, 2017

Maken returned the favour to the AAP with his tweet, which is seen as a sign of a growing bonhomie between the two parties behind the scenes.

Earlier, Kejriwal, addressing a crowd at the Ram Leela Maidan gathered to celebrate five years of AAP,   sent a message to voters  ahead of the Gujarat election: “It is not necessary to vote for the AAP candidate. I appeal to the people of Gujarat to vote for the strongest candidates against the ones fielded by BJP. It is time to defeat BJP.” Since Congress was the only strong opponent of the BJP in Gujarat election, his statement was seen as meant to benefit the Grand Old Party.

AAP and the Congress are both secular. They appeal to the same voters. Though the AAP has hardly any presence outside Delhi, its existence threatens the prospects of Congress within the capital. A triangular contest involving the AAP, Congress and the BJP is only likely to brighten the saffron party’s fortunes. So the Congress and AAP aligning to retain seats could be a possibility in the face of a Narendra Modi-Amit Shah juggernaut.