New Delhi: The Congress slammed the change of leadership in Delhi saying naming of Atishi as the new Chief Minister was a mere ploy of AAP founder and former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal who was out on bail in a corruption case.
For many in Delhi, Atishi replacing Arvind Kejriwal to the top executive post revived the memories of popular Congress Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, who ruled the national capital from 1998-2013.
The rise of AAP in 2013 led to the marginalisation of the Congress in Delhi. Kejriwal who had gained prominence as an anti-corruption crusader had leveled charges of corruption against Sheila Dikshit and defeated her in the Assembly polls.
"They are a party of liars. They will continue with their corruption. Delhi will continue to suffer under them. There is new hope whenever leadership change happens but only in parties which go by certain ethics. Here, Kejriwal will keep running the show from behind the scenes," former MP and Sheila Dikshit's son Sandeep Dikshit told ETV Bharat.
"He brought about this change as he was not able to go to office and see files as per a Supreme Court directive which has not given him a clean chit in the liquor scam. Mounds of garbage and potholed roads will continue to be the face of AAP instead,” added Sandeep Dikshit.
"What happened to the charges Kejriwal leveled against Sheilaji. They have been in power since 2013 but could not prove a single charge against her. This showed their malicious and fake agenda against the former Chief Minister," he said.
The Congress leader slammed Kejriwal for saying he had resigned to seek a clean chit from the people's court.
"The people do not have the full facts with them and can be carried away. Actually, only the courts can give a clean chit to a person. The liquor scam is one of the cases. We have apprised the Lt Governor about other scams like management of schools, purchases of buses etc. I hope the probe is expedited," said Dikshit.
The Congress functionary explained that inducting AAP in the INDIA bloc ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections was done for the bigger objective of fighting the 10 years of Narendra Modi government.
"We wanted to save the country from the BJP so we joined hands with the AAP. Now we have to save Delhi as Kejriwal damaged city in 10 years," he said.
Delhi Congress chief Devender Yadav welcomed the new Chief Minister but noted that she would be in office only for a few months and that the grand old party will keep asking questions to the AAP on behalf of the people.
"We welcome her but she will be Chief Minister only for a few months. We hope the woman Chief Minister will secure women in the national capital and bring out the CAG reports related to all the 13 departments under her soon. We will keep reminding her of the promises made to the voters. For many years the Kejriwal government did not have a women minister but now they are playing up on a Woman Chief Minister," Yadav told ETV Bharat.
"As far as Kejriwal is concerned his resignation seems like a political stunt to me. He tends to politicise everything. If the resignation was on moral grounds he should have resigned earlier when the charges were framed against him. The voters can see through AAP's game. The Congress will have the next Chief Minister in Delhi," Yadav added.
