Delhi mayoral polls: AAP welcomes Congress' decision to support its candidates

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Saturday, 20 April, welcomed the decision of the Congress to support its candidates in the upcoming Delhi mayoral polls.

Addressing a press conference here, senior AAP leader and the party's Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) in-charge Durgesh Pathak expressed confidence that the AAP-Congress alliance will win the 26 April polls by a huge margin.

"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," Pathak said.

"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.

Earlier in the day, Delhi Congress president Arvinder Singh Lovely told a press conference 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.

"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.

The AAP declared its candidates for the polls on Thursday. It has fielded Mahesh Khichi for the mayor's post and Ravinder Bhardwaj for the deputy mayor's post.

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.

Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded Kishan Lal for the post of mayor and Neeta Bisht for the deputy mayor's post.