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Senior Congress leader Pawan Khera on Tuesday said that Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal wouldn't have been part of the INDIA bloc if it was up to Congress.
"If Congress was given a choice, I don't think he (Arvind Kejriwal) would have been a part (of the INDIA alliance). I don't think we on our own took him or dumped him. He dumped himself out," Khera told ANI in an interview. Reacting to AAP's announcement in Haryana and Delhi assembly elections to contest on all seats, Khera in a veil reference to Kejriwal said, "If someone has megalomania, there's no cure for it." "The biggest party is responsible for keeping any alliance together. We tried to do that. However, if someone has megalomania, there's no cure to that. The (Delhi assembly) elections will tell whether he is permanent," Khera added. When asked about Congress leadership's thoughts about the rise of AAP in Punjab, Goa and Delhi, Khera said that there was a need to think about the long-term game, which requires getting rid of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) since they were the real enemies who took away Congress' votes. "In any political party and politics, different people play different games: short-term, medium-term and long-term. All three are required. Some of us must play the short-term game and some of us must be obsessed with the long-term game, which is to get rid of them (BJP). They are our real enemies. They took our votes away. Defeating them is necessary," Khera explained. When asked if Congress would extend support to AAP in case of a hung assembly, Khera said that it was unlikely to happen since the people of Delhi will vote decisively as they have done in the previous elections. "This event will not occur since Delhi will vote decisively as it did in the past two elections. I don't think (the people of) Delhi have any confusion. If it happens, we will have another round of elections. But I don't think this will happen," Khera said. When asked about Congress' allying with Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), Khera said that there was a difference between Shiv Sena and AAP as the latter has no ideology. He further accused Kejriwal of treating 'rajdharma' as a business transaction. "There's a huge difference between Shiv Sena and AAP, between BJP and AAP. Any party which has 10 per cent ideology is better than AAP which has no ideology. Is transaction politics? I will work for you if you vote for me. It is my rajdharma to work whether you vote for me or not. If I am in the government, I will provide you with water (facilities) and electricity. That's my rajdharma. But he also does business in this. This is not ideological," Khera said. (ANI)
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