"Congress suffered loss due to involvement of Arvind Kejriwal in scam...": Congress leader Abhishek Dutt

New Delhi [India], June 29 : Congress leader Abhishek Dutt on Saturday blamed the Aam Aadmi Party for their loss in the Lok Sabha elections and said that the party suffered a loss in the general elections due to the involvement of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the excise policy scam.
"When we (Congress) exposed the excise scam, we demanded the then government to conduct a proper investigation. ED and CBI didn't take any action, even after 18 months of filing the case. But, just 1 month before the Lok Sabha polls, they arrested Arvind Kejriwal," Dutt told ANI.
The Rouse Avenue Court of Delhi on Saturday sent Arvind Kejriwal to judicial custody till July 12 in connection with the excise policy case.
"Congress suffered a loss due to the involvement of Arvind Kejriwal in the scam. I believe if we had not contested the elections with them, then Congress' seats would have increased in the elections. Because of the Excise scam, the Congress suffered a loss in the Lok Sabha elections. Satyendar Kumar Jain is in jail because of his involvement in the scam. Manish Sisodia is in jail and because of all of them Congress has suffered the loss," he added.
The Congress leader further lashed out at Delhi Minister Atishi and said that the latter is doing "drama" by sitting on Dharna.
"Atishi is doing drama by sitting on Dharna and because of that AAP is suffering from loss. The minister's job is to provide full facilities to the public. There is no water in Delhi and they are doing dharna," he said.
Atishi started her indefinite hunger strike, protesting for Haryana to release Delhi's water share on June 22 after which her health deteriorated during her indefinite hunger strike over the Delhi water crisis and supply of water from Haryana and was admitted to Hospital.
The issue of water shortage arose with the high temperatures and heat waves in the national capital.
Earlier on June 6, Aam Aadmi Party said that the party would contest the Delhi assembly elections on its own without an alliance with Congress, party leader Gopal Rai noting that the two parties had come together in the national capital only for Lok Sabha polls.
"This is clear from the very first day that the INDIA alliance was formed for Lok Sabha elections. As far as Vidhan Sabha is concerned, no alliance has been formed. AAP will fight elections with its full strength," Rai, who is Delhi's Minister for Environment, told ANI.
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.