AAP Accuses Congress of Colluding with BJP to Defeat Kejriwal-Led Party in 2025 Delhi Polls
New Delhi, September 2: In a sharp political attack, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Delhi President Saurabh Bhardwaj on Monday accused the Congress party of deliberately working to defeat AAP in the 2025 Delhi Assembly elections, even if it meant helping the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secure victory.
Calling it a “political conspiracy of historic proportions,” Bhardwaj alleged that the Delhi unit of Congress, with the consent of the party’s top leadership, made it their goal not to win, but to ensure that AAP lost.
“Congress chose BJP over AAP”: Bhardwaj
Referring to an interview by Congress Delhi chief Devender Yadav, Bhardwaj said Yadav clearly admitted that the party’s top priority was to stop AAP, even if the BJP gained from it.
“Devender Yadav has openly said that Congress decided internally — even if BJP wins, AAP must be defeated. This wasn’t just a local decision. It had the backing of Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, and senior Congress leaders,” Bhardwaj alleged.
He claimed the Congress high command gave a free hand to its Delhi unit to act in any way necessary to prevent Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP from returning to power.
“No plans to defeat BJP candidates”
Bhardwaj pointed out that while Congress allegedly targeted every AAP leader, they made no strategy to defeat key BJP leaders like Parvesh Verma, Rekha Gupta, or Ramesh Bidhuri — the latter being in the news for controversial remarks against a fellow MP.
“Congress didn’t try to defeat the BJP leaders who have abused even their own allies. Their only focus was to damage AAP,” he said.
He went so far as to say this political behaviour was “as shameful as what was seen during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.”
“Common people suffer when AAP is weakened”
Bhardwaj linked the alleged Congress strategy to the struggles of Delhi’s poor:
“Today when a poor person’s slum is being bulldozed, he says — if Kejriwal was in power, my jhuggi would have been safe.”
AAP Questions Congress’s Poll Spending
The AAP leader also raised questions about the Congress party’s election expenditure, pointing to figures from the 2025 Delhi polls:
- AAP spent: ₹14 crore
- BJP spent: ₹57 crore
- Congress spent: ₹46 crore
Bhardwaj said the Congress declared ₹44 crore in cash donations, which he claimed is against Election Commission norms that prohibit cash contributions exceeding ₹2,000 per donor.
“It is unbelievable that ₹44 crore was received in cash. This raises serious questions,” he said.
Congress yet to respond
At the time of reporting, the Congress party had not issued a response to AAP’s allegations. However, political observers believe these remarks could further strain ties between the two parties, who have occasionally aligned under the INDIA bloc in other states.
