New Delhi:
Taking another apparent jab at the INDIA alliance, and particularly the Congress and the AAP, after early leads pointed to a big victory for the BJP in Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has made a social media post saying “aur lado” (fight some more).
Aur lado aapas mein!!! https://t.co/f3wbM1DYxk pic.twitter.com/8Yu9WK4k0c
— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) February 8, 2025
After leads showed the BJP winning nearly 50 of Delhi’s 70 Assembly seats, the National Conference leader posted a GIF which said “aur lado, jee bhar ke lado, samapt kar do ek dusre ko” (fight some more, fight to your heart’s content, finish each other off). In his text with the GIF, Mr Abdullah underlined the message, writing: “aur lado aapas mein” (fight each other some more).
Despite contesting the Lok Sabha elections in an alliance in Delhi, the Congress and the AAP decided to fight the Assembly elections separately. Leaders from both parties also did not shy away from attacking each other, even accusing the other of being a “B-team” of the BJP.
The parties decided not to have an alliance despite the Congress suffering a humiliating defeat in Haryana – a state it was widely expected to win given that the BJP had been in power there since 2014 and was perceived to be facing anti-incumbency – partly because it did not partner with the AAP. The Arvind Kejriwal-led party was seen to have played spoilsport for the Congress in at least half a dozen of the state’s 90 Assembly seats. The Congress eventually ended up winning in just 37 constituencies.
Reacting to the parties’ decision for Delhi, Omar Abdullah had said last month that there was no clarity about INDIA’s leadership or agenda and it should be winded up if it was formed just for the Lok Sabha elections.
“I cannot say anything about this because we have nothing to do with Delhi elections. AAP, Congress and the other parties on the ground must decide how to combat the BJP… As far as I remember, there was no time limit to the INDIA alliance. Unfortunately, no INDIA alliance meeting is being organised so there is no clarity about leadership, agenda, or our (INDIA bloc’s) existence… They should wind up the alliance in case it was just for the Parliament elections…” the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister had said.
With the Congress under fire from allies after the Haryana defeat, the INDIA bloc appeared to be splintering even more after the alliance of the party, the Sharad Pawar-led NCP and Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena lost badly in Maharashtra in November. Trinamool Congress leader and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had thrown her hat in the ring for leading the INDIA bloc and had found support from allies.
Mr Abdullah had also said that the Congress should not take its leadership of the alliance for granted.
“By virtue of being the single largest party in Parliament, and also having the leader of opposition in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, the fact that they have a pan-India footprint, which no other party can lay claim to, they are natural sort of leaders of an opposition movement,” he had said, adding, “Yet there is a sense of disquiet among some of the allies because they feel the Congress is not doing enough to justify it or to earn it or to keep it. That’s something the Congress might wish to consider.”
