Before the Delhi Assembly elections, the unity of the India faction seems to be weakening. Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Wednesday extended support to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the upcoming elections to be held on February 5. TMC’s support comes a day after Akhilesh Yadav offered support to AAP against the saffron camp in the national capital. Notably, Congress and AAP are part of the India Bloc at the national level, but they are contesting against each other in the Delhi elections. Congress is also contesting on all 70 assembly seats in the national capital.
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Moreover, sources said Shiv Sena (UBT) is planning to campaign in support of Arvind Kejriwal and AAP in the next few days. Kejriwal is in touch with Uddhav Thackeray. Notably, AAP has opted to contest the upcoming assembly elections alone after forging an alliance with the Congress for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The ruling AAP won the 2015 and 2020 elections with 67 and 62 seats respectively and is aiming to score a hat-trick in the capital.
In a post on Twitter, Kejriwal said he is “personally grateful” to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for supporting AAP. The former Delhi Chief Minister said that TMC has announced support to AAP in the Delhi elections. I am personally grateful to Mamata didi. Thank you, sister. You have always supported and blessed us in our good and bad times. On Tuesday, soon after the Election Commission announced the Delhi Assembly election dates, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav offered his support to AAP, following which Kejriwal thanked Yadav. Kejriwal wrote on X that thank you very much Akhilesh ji. You always support us and stand with us. I and the people of Delhi are grateful for this.
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After TMC’s support to AAP ahead of Delhi elections, speculations are rife about a possible rift in the India block. There is speculation that Congress is under pressure to give the leadership of the opposition group to Mamata Banerjee. While Mamata Banerjee has repeatedly expressed her interest in leading the Bharat faction, NCP-SP’s Sharad Pawar and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav have also supported the Trinamool chief as the leader of the opposition faction, leading to the Congress The difficulties have increased further. Elections for the 70-member Delhi Assembly are scheduled to be held on February 5 and counting of votes will take place on February 8. There will be a triangular contest between AAP, BJP and Congress in the national capital.
