BJP's Shehzad Poonawalla criticizes Congress, AAP alliance, dubs it as 'selfish friendship'

New Delhi [India], June 7 : Bharatiya Janata Party leader Shehzad Poonawalla strongly criticised the Congress and AAP alliance as a "friendship of selfishness."
Poonawalla's comments came in response to Delhi government minister and AAP leader Gopal Rai's announcement that there would be no alliance between the two parties in the upcoming Delhi assembly elections.
Gopal Rai stated on Thursday that the AAP would contest the Delhi assembly elections independently, without any alliance with the Congress. He emphasized that the alliance between the two parties was forged solely for the Lok Sabha polls and would not extend to the state elections.
Poonawalla criticized Rai's statement, highlighting the failure of the INDIA bloc, which had failed to secure any of the seven seats in Delhi.
"Gopal Rai has said that after they (INDIA alliance) have won 0 out of 7 seats in Delhi, there will be no alliance between the Congress party and AAP in the Assembly elections. This was only a friendship of selfishness. Now they will abuse each other in Delhi too. This is the real face of the INDI alliance," Poonawalla said on Thursday.
The two parties drew a blank in the Lok Sabha polls in the national capital with BJP winning all the seven Lok Sabha seats. While AAP contested four of seven seats, Congress put up candidates for three seats.
AAP and Congress are part of the INDIA bloc. While the two parties had an alliance in Lok Sabha polls in Delhi, Punjab and Gujarat, there was no alliance between the two in Punjab. Congress won seven seats in Punjab compared to three won by AAP which is in power in the state.
Assembly polls in Delhi are expected to be held in early 2025. Congress could not win a single seat in the Delhi assembly polls held in 2020. While AAP won 62 out of the 70 seats, BJP secured eighth seats in the last assembly polls.
The announcement by AAP comes even as the newly elected Lok Sabha MPs have not taken oath and talks are being held among the INDIA bloc partners for better coordination to take on the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government.
Meanwhile talking about the Lok Sabha election 2024, the BJP won all seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi for the third consecutive time.
From north-east Delhi, incumbent BJP MP Manoj Tiwari won by 1,38,778 votes against Congress candidate Kanhaiya Kumar, who is a former Jawaharlal Nehru University Student's Union president.
From Chandni Chowk, Praveen Khandelwal emerged victorious against Congress' Jaiprakash Agarwal with a margin of 89,325 votes. From East Delhi, Harsh Malhotra defeated Aam Aadmi Party's Kuldeep Kumar with 93,663 votes.
Bansuri Swaraj from New Delhi defeated AAP's Somnath Bharti with a margin of 78,370 votes. From North-West Delhi, Yogender Chandoliya won against Udit Raj of Congress with a margin of 2,90,849 votes.
Ramvir Singh Bidhuri from South Delhi defeated AAP's Sahi Ram with a margin of 1,24,333 votes and Kamaljeet Sehrawat from West Delhi won against AAP's Mahabal Mishra with a margin of 1,99,013 votes.
According to the Election Commission of India, the BJP won 240 seats, much lower than its 2019 tally of 303. The Congress, on the other hand, registered a strong improvement, winning 99 seats. While the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance won 292 seats, the INDIA bloc crossed the 230 mark, posing stiff competition, and defying all predictions.