Jan Lokpal Bill an alibi for Aam Aadmi Party to run away from government: Congress

NEW DELHI: Congress today attacked Arvind Kejriwal for his statement that AAP should not have quit the government in Delhi in a hurry, saying the party made the non-passage of Jan Lokpal Bill an alibi to "run away".

Congress General Secretary Shakeel Ahmed told reporters that Aam Aadmi Party coming to power was a fluke as Congress had "rightly decided" to support them to form the government knowing fully well that they could not implement the promises made to the people. He said Kejriwal and his team quit Delhi government as they had national ambitions and therefore they made the non-passage of Jan Lokpal Bill an alibi to "run away".

Ahmed said his party supported AAP in forming government as it could not support the BJP. He said the so called big leaders in AAP pressurized Kejriwal to quit the Delhi government as Lok Sabha polls were nearing and they had national ambitions. The remarks of Ahmed, who is in-charge of party affairs in Delhi, came close on the heels of an interview by Kejriwal to suggest that the AAP made mistake to assume that the people will celebrate "our decision to quit on principle." He said the statement would not break the ice with the people of Delhi, which could go for Assembly polls anytime.

"We should not have quit government the same day BJP and Congress blocked the passage of the Jan Lokpal Bill. We should have waited for a few days, held public meetings to explain the rationale behind our decision. "We quit suddenly and people could not understand why we did it. It was perceived negatively. We made a mistake on the communication front and we'll have to be more careful in future," Kejriwal had said.