The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) accused the BJP of using security agencies to target political opponents in the last seven years. It also accused the Delhi Police, controlled by the Union Home Ministry, of allegedly registering false cases against AAP MLAs. But now the situation in Delhi seems to have changed.
But last week there was a tussle between AAP and BJP over the arrest of Delhi BJP spokesperson Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga. Now it seems that the situation has changed. This time the BJP accused AAP of misusing its power to harass political opponents in Punjab, where it is in power. The Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP has had a very ‘discussed relationship’ with the BJP since it came to power in 2015 after winning 67 of the 70 assembly seats in Delhi.
Soon after Arvind Kejriwal took over as the Chief Minister of Delhi, the Chief Minister’s Office was raided by the CBI on allegations of corruption by his secretary Rajendra Kumar. After this, Arvind Kejriwal had targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi, calling him a coward and a psychopath. However, over the years, the AAP has been lenient, realizing that attacking Modi was not giving it the electoral advantage it wanted. A senior party leader told The Indian Express, “People did not want to see us fighting. The BJP has managed to create the impression that we only want to fight and do not know how to govern. We have definitely improved.”
In 2019 when AAP launched an aggressive campaign for the Lok Sabha elections and failed to win even a single seat, a decision was taken and Kejriwal stopped talking about Modi. Arvind Kejriwal then talked about his government’s work in Delhi and the ‘Delhi model’ of improving schools, hospitals and providing free water and electricity. But when AAP won Punjab, we saw senior leaders including Kejriwal targeting BJP and PM Modi. This was something that AAP’s national convener Kejriwal had not done since 2019.