Desperate to stay relevant, Delhi Cong announces ‘pol khol’ campaign against AAP

As Arvind Kejriwal continues to dominate the headlines and direct the political narrative even after he quit as Delhi CM on Friday, the Congress and the BJP in the state seem to be trying very hard to shift some of the public and media attention away from him and towards themselves. 

Tuesday saw both parties unveil their respective campaigns to 'expose the lies and illegalities' and 'unfulfilled promises' of the Aam Admi Party government, even as they turned to AAP for inspiration for their political campaigns.

While the BJP staged a dharna at Jantar Mantar to 'expose' the 49-day AAP government in Delhi, the Congress today announced the launch of its 'pol khol abhiyaan' from February 23 to "hold them responsible for telling lies and acting irresponsibly on a serious issue like the Jan Lokpal bill."

Embracing Kejriwal-style political theatrics, the Delhi Congress, hoping for maximum impact with its 'pol khol abhiyaan' has decided to launch the campaign from Central Park in Connaught Place, which falls under the New Delhi Assembly constituency from where Kejriwal was elected.

The campaign will be launched by Delhi Congress chief Arvinder Singh Lovely. 

"The pol khol abhiyan will be launched by Delhi Pradesh Congress Chief Arvinder Singh Lovely at Central Park, where a 20-foot effigy of Arvind Kejriwal will be put up. On the effigy, the lies spread by Kejriwal and his government will be displayed," said Congress leader Mukesh Sharma.

Delhi, said Sharma, would "not forgive Kejriwal for turning absconder."

"Kejriwal has proved himself to be a 'khal nayak'. We are declaring him an absconder. He left on his own accord. No one asked him to quit. We did not withdraw our support to the AAP government. He has become an absconder in the eyes of the people," said Sharma.

In what seems like a belated attempt to challenge Kejriwal's self-congratulatory report card of achievements in 49 days that his government was in power, the Delhi Congress, which provided outside support to Kejriwal's minority government, has decided to set up a committee to examine, what Sharma described as, "the anti-people and illegal administrative decisions by the AAP government and also decisions involving money."

"The Congress party has set up a committee to examine the decisions taken by the AAP government. And should irregularities come to light, the Congress party will write to the Lieutenant Governor to direct the Anti-Corruption Bureau to file an FIR against them. This 'honest' government has taken some decisions on February 13 and 14 when they knew they were going to resign. We will be examining those decisions too," said Sharma.

Taking on Kejriwal over the Swaraj Bill, Sharma questioned the AAP government's decision to stop the MLA fund even before the Bill had been passed by the Assembly. "No state government has the right to stop the MLA fund without the Assembly's nod."

Sharma added that along with the pol khol abhiyaan, the Congress party would also start its preparations for the Lok Sabha elections on February 23.