NEW DELHI: Ahead of I.N.D.I.A alliance meeting scheduled to be held on Thursday in Mumbai, Delhi education minister Atishi has ruled out the possibility of Arvind Kejriwal being in the race to the office of Prime minister in 2024.
Atishi’s comments come at a time when Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot had last week pitched Rahul Gandhi’s name during an interview with a TV channel.
“Arvind Kejriwal is not in the run to contest for the Prime Ministerial office. Aam Aadmi Party is not part of the INDIA alliance because we want the Prime minister’s officer. We are with the INDIA alliance because we need to protect the idea of India and its democracy,” remarked Atishi at a press conference.
Atishi, in the press conference, slammed the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Centre for undermining the federal structure and disrupting the independence and authority of the Delhi government by bringing in the Ordinance.
Among the INDIA alliance parties, AAP has made a foray into the states where both BJP and Congress have been in power, including Delhi, Punjab, Gujarat and Goa.
AAP’s long-standing confrontation with the BJP over Delhi Ordinance bill was one of the reasons that led to the formation of INDIA in Bengaluru in XX. The confrontation brought ugly scenes in the Parliament when two of its firebrand MPs Raghav Chadha and Sanjay Singh were suspended from the Rajya Sabha. Their suspension brought immediate support from UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Shiva Sena (Uddhav Thackeray) as they expressed solidarity with him.
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However, lack of consensus over PM candidature and recent remarks by Chhatisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel on fighting state polls without any alliance with AAP has put the unity into a tailspin.
“If there was going to be a direction from my party, it would have come. Since there is no one, we are not going to fight together. We will fight as enemies,” said Baghel, “Kejriwal knows very well how to remain in the media throughout.”
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AAP, which had attained the status of a national party, has now 10 MPs in the Rajya Sabha but the party is gunning to return to Lok Sabha with more fierce representation in the 2024 polls.
AAP’s troubleshooter and Kejriwal’s Man Friday Chadha, who is known for strong negotiating skills on the table, has helped enable AAP’s overtures with several Opposition parties including TMC, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP when they met Supriya Sule, Uddhav Thackeray and Mamata Banerjee during a whirlwind tour in support of anti-Ordinance demand.
Chadha, who recently got engaged to actor Parineeti Chopra, had also invited several Opposition party leaders including Priyanka Chaturvedi — one of the most vocal Shiv Sena leaders in the Parliament.
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“The Centre has chosen to implement such an act that does not just reduce the powers of an elected state government but also, undermines the principal foundations of what makes a democracy — ‘of the people, for the people and by the people. The GNCTD Bill seeks to de-establish the ‘triple chain of accountability’ and reduce the powers of a democratically elected government. Through this Act, a Chief Secretary or a secretary may choose to not carry out the orders of a minister, as per their desire,” Atishi said earlier.