AAP lauds Rahul's speech, questions criticism of his hug

The Aam Aadmi Party today lauded Rahul Gandhi's speech during the no-confidence debate in Parliament and criticised the BJP for making a fuss over the hug the Congress president gave to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Although we have differences with Rahul Gandhi on most issues, we admit that his speech yesterday was excellent and he did a fine job of exposing the Modi government's failures, Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said.

Asked if the AAP was open to joining an anti-BJP front of parties like the Congress, he said as of now it was not part of any such front.

But Singh, who is member of the AAP's political affairs committee, added it was the need of the hour that all parties opposed to the BJP come together.

We are unable to understand the fuss being made by the BJP over his gesture of hugging the Prime Minister, he said, referring to debate on the opposition's no-confidence motion against the Modi government.

Gandhi had created a flutter during the debate by walking up to the prime minister's seat and hugging him.

"They are fine with the PM hugging his then Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif, US President Donald Trump and other heads of state. What is their problem with Gandhi? Singh asked.

He said the prime minister's own reply to the debate on the motion was devoid of gravitas".

The opposition yesterday did a fine job of putting the government in the dock for its numerous failings, Singh said.

The government may have won the trust vote on the floor of the House, but it has lost the trust of the people of the country and the same would get reflected in the results of the next Lok Sabha polls, he told reporters.

Singh accused the BJP of having "vitiated" the atmosphere in the entire country, mentioning incidents like the lynching of a man in Rajasthan by cow vigilantes and the recent assault on social activist Swami Agnivesh in Jharkhand.

Ironically, these acts are carried out while raising slogans in praise of Bharat Mata and 'gau mata'. The BJP should tell us which mother would condone such barbaric acts in her name, the AAP leader said.

Singh said the AAP supported all parties opposed to the BJP as it felt that its return to power in 2019 would be the worst thing that could happen to the country.

We had therefore supported the Rashtriya Lok Dal candidate in the Kairana bypoll, he said referring to the recent opposition victory in Uttar Pradesh.

He also said in states like Delhi and Punjab, the AAP planned to contest all seats. In Haryana, it will field candidates in most constituencies.

Our aim is to fight 80-90 seats across the country. We will also play a role in places where we may not enter the fray but have some influence, he said.

We have learnt from our mistakes in 2014 when we fought in 403 seats and ended up losing deposits in most of them, he said.

We are now more focused on consolidation in places where we have acquired the potential to win and on strengthening our organization in other places, he added.