Delhi Mayor Polls 2024: AAP welcomes Congress’ decision, says ‘Together, we will fight against dictatorship’

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Saturday welcomed the decision of the Congress to support its candidate Mahesh Khichi in the upcoming mayoral polls in the national capital.

Expressing confidence that the AAP-Congress alliance will win the mayoral polls on April 26 by a huge margin, Durgesh Pathak —senior AAP leader and party MCD in-charge—said, "We welcome this move (of the Congress). Together, we will fight against dictatorship and a corrupt government. The AAP and the Congress will together contest the MCD election and win the polls by a huge margin." 

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"The BJP resorted to hooliganism in the last election but still lost the polls. Our only mission is to save the country and its Constitution," he added, accusing the saffron party of asking for votes by telling people that it will amend the Constitution if elected.

"The country is going through a very difficult time. Today, when BJP leaders are going to ask for votes, they are openly saying, you give us votes and we will amend the Constitution. It is the same Constitution that gave rights to women and Dalits and was framed after so many struggles by B R Ambedkar," Pathak said.

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Earlier in the day, Delhi Congress president Arvinder Singh Lovely said that the Congress councillors will support the AAP candidates in the polls to elect the mayor and deputy mayor of the national capital.

The announcement to this effect was jointly made by the communication department chairman of the Delhi Congress and former MLA Anil Bhardwaj, the party's MCD in-charge Jitendra Kumar Kochhar and its leader in the MCD House, Nazia Danish, at the press conference held at Rajiv Bhawan.

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"To ensure that democracy is not embarrassed, what happened in the Chandigarh mayoral polls does not happen in the MCD election, the Congress will support the AAP candidates for the posts of mayor and deputy mayor in the public interest," Bharadwaj said.

Khichi (45), who represents Dev Nagar ward number 84 in the MCD House, has been associated with the AAP since its inception in 2012. He was also a part of the 2011 India Against Corruption (IAC) movement that led to the birth of the Arvind Kejriwal-led party.

The BJP has fielded Kishan Lal for the post of mayor and Neeta Bisht for the deputy mayor's post.