Delhi poll results not vindication of PM, but referendum on Kejriwal: Cong

Results of the Delhi Assembly elections are not a vindication of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's policies but a referendum on Arvind Kejriwal and AAP, the Congress said on Saturday as it vowed to bounce back from another whitewash.

The Congress also asserted that it would form a government in the national capital in 2030.

The BJP has returned to power in Delhi after more than 26 years, sweeping away the AAP from the national capital in another big win to extend its saffron footprint in the country. The Congress has drawn a blank in the polls once again after 2015 and 2020. 

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said the assembly election results reflected nothing more than a referendum on Kejriwal and AAP.

"After all, at the height of the prime minister's popularity in 2015 and 2020, AAP had won decisively in Delhi. This shows that, rather than being vindication of the policies of the prime minister, this vote is a rejection of Arvind Kejriwal's politics of deceit, deception, and vastly exaggerated claims of achievement," he said in a post on X. 

The Congress took the lead in highlighting the various scams that occurred under Kejriwal and the voters pronounced their judgement on his 12 years of "misrule", he added.

"The Congress was expecting to do better. It has, however, increased its vote share. The campaign of the Congress was vigorous. It may not be in the assembly but it is definitely a presence in Delhi, a presence that will be expanded electorally with the sustained efforts of lakhs of Congress workers," Ramesh said.

"There will be a Congress government once again in Delhi in 2030," he asserted.

Congress media and publicity department head Pawan Khera said the meltdown of a section of so called liberals is completely bizarre.

"They didn't give these lectures on opposition unity to AAP when the party went to Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, etc to fight elections and weaken anti communal, secular vote. Delhi election result is a rejection of the Trojan horse that attempted to damage the liberal cause across the country," he said.

"Majority of liberals are rightly cheering the fall of the facade so that the real champion of liberal values - the Indian National Congress - can emerge stronger to take the BJP on and defeat it," Khera said on X.