AAP will fall under its own weight, Cong tells supporters

To motivate party supporters, Congress scion Rahul Gandhi told them that AAP's inexperience would eventually bring the Delhi government down

Unable to decide what to do with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Congress on Monday ignored a fresh development, as another Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA), an independent, said he was withdrawing support to the AAP government.

Rambeer Shokeen, an MLA from the Mundka constituency, met Lt Governor Najeeb Jung on Monday, apprising him of his decision to withdraw support to the government. He is likely to hold a press conference on Tuesday.

Shokeen said he quit after Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal reneged on his promises to solve the power and water problems in Delhi.

With the exit of Shokeen and Vinod Binny, who had quit earlier, the AAP has lost two supporters. In terms of numbers, the government is in a minority. However, as the government went through a confidence vote only weeks ago and as another one can be filed only six months later, the government is safe.

The Congress leadership, though, is in no mood to topple the government, despite pressure from the rank and file. Party vice-president Rahul Gandhi met a delegation of Congressmen from Delhi, all of whom complained to him about the humiliation AAP was meting out to them.

“We don’t know where these people came from. We don’t know where they will go. But they will have to go because of their own inexperience. We should do nothing to hasten that process,” Gandhi reportedly told the delegation.

The thinking behind keeping the government in Delhi afloat is also to keep the top two or three leaders of AAP boxed in and hemmed by the administrative problems of Delhi. “In Maharashtra, the direct damage to the Congress is from AAP – Muslims are flocking to their meetings, seeing an alternative to the Congress for the first time. But in the absence of Delhi leaders, rival Muslim groups are fighting to get AAP’s attention. To prevent damage to us, we should keep AAP leaders engaged in Delhi,” said a Congress strategist.

In an interview to news-agency PTI, Kejriwal said he was “not trying to be toppled”. “I do not bother about our government. That is the last thing I have in mind. If the government is going to fall tomorrow then it should fall today.”

Asked if the fact that the Congress could pull the plug anytime weighed on his mind, he replied, “That is their problem. If they have a problem, why did they support us?”