Modi factor led Congress to support AAP: Arun Jaitley

NEW DELHI: Accusing both Congress and Aam Aadmi Party ( AAP) of entering into a political adjustment with a 'self serving motive', BJP leader Arun Jaitley on Tuesday said that the ' Modi factor' caused the Congress to support the Kejriwal-led party.

"The Congress cannot afford an early re-election. It needs breathing time to recover. If no government had been formed in Delhi, a re-election could have been held along with Lok Sabha polls," Jaitley said in an article on his website. "In that event, the Modi factor would also have influenced the outcome of the polls. The election would have been polarized between the BJP and the AAP with the Congress getting squeezed out even more," Jaitley opined.

Jailtey went on to call Congress the B-team of AAP. "Many have suggested that AAP is the B-Team of the Congress. The truth is otherwise. For the present, the Congress has agreed to the humiliation of working as the B-Team of the AAP," he hit out.

According to Jaitley, in order to make its presence felt nationally, AAP took the calculated risk of taking Congress support. "Government formation in the national capital in its (AAP) assessment would further enable it to make its presence felt nationally. The AAP knows that such a government cannot be a lasting one. It therefore takes a calculated risk. It continues to denigrate the Congress and take its support," he said.

"The Congress wants the AAP to make a few mistakes so that it can recover its constituency and then force a poll. The AAP knows that it is forming a fragile Government with a short life. It has sacrificed its principle of no Congress support in order to make its presence felt nationally by forming a Government in the national capital," Jaitley added.

Debutant MLA Arvind Kejriwal is all set to take over as the seventh Chief Minister of Delhi, after ousting Congress's three-time chief minister Sheila Dikshit in the recently held Assembly elections.

After he takes oath of office, Kejriwal will be the youngest Chief Minister of Delhi at 45 years of age, while his predecessor Dikshit will take the crown of India's longest serving woman chief minister so far.