Cong vs AAP: Rahul attacks Kejriwal over liquor scam, bungalow controversy

Rahul Gandhi criticises Kejriwal over the Delhi liquor scam and his official bungalow, while the AAP chief questions why no Congress leader has been arrested in the National Herald case

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi launched an attack on Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal and his party member Manish Sisodia, calling them the “architects” of the alleged Delhi liquor scam.

 

Speaking at a public meeting in Patparganj ahead of the Delhi Assembly elections, Gandhi also targeted Kejriwal over his former official residence. He used the term ‘Sheesh Mahal’ (glass palace), a phrase coined by the BJP to criticise the alleged overspending on the chief minister’s bungalow.

 

“And you must have seen the pictures of his house. Narendra Modi had thrown me out of my house. I handed over my keys and asked them to get going. Kejriwal lives in a mahal, in a sheesh mahal,” Gandhi said at the rally.

 

AAP vs Congress tussle grows

His remarks signalled a growing rift between AAP and Congress, despite both being part of the INDIA bloc. Congress, which ruled Delhi for 15 years until 2013, is trying to regain power in the February 5 elections. The results will be declared on February 8.

 

In response, Kejriwal hit back, questioning why no Congress leader has been arrested in the National Herald case. “Modi ji jails people even in fake cases like the liquor scam. Why haven’t you and your family been arrested in an open-and-shut case like the National Herald?” Kejriwal wrote on X.

 

Soon after, an old tweet of Kejriwal from 2015 resurfaced, in which he had called Rahul Gandhi a “kid” during a political clash over a demolition in Delhi’s Shakur Basti.

 

“Rahul Gandhi ji is still a kid. His party has perhaps not told him that the railway comes under the central government, not the Delhi government,” read Kejriwal’s old tweet, dated December 14, 2015, when he criticised Rahul Gandhi for blaming the AAP government for the demolition at Shakur Basti, which was carried out by the railway police under the Centre’s jurisdiction.

 

AAP has been in power in Delhi since 2015, winning the last two elections. With just days left for the polls, the political battle in Delhi is heating up.