Rahul breaks silence on Delhi deadlock, targets PM, Kejriwal

Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of turning a blind eye to the "anarchy" in Delhi and aiding "chaos and disorder" in the national capital, where Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal as well as the Bharatiya Janata Party are staging competing sit-ins.

The people of Delhi are the victims, Gandhi alleged.

"Delhi CM, sitting in dharna at LG office. BJP sitting in dharna at CM residence. Delhi bureaucrats addressing press conferences.

"PM turns a blind eye to the anarchy; rather nudges chaos and disorder. People of Delhi are the victims, as this drama plays out," Gandhi said on Twitter.

Meanwhile, the AAP has attacked the Congress president for criticising Kejriwal.

AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said that Gandhi is speaking the "language of BJP", challenging him to ask his Delhi unit's leaders to go on hunger strike for even two days.

Another AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj asked the Congress president that instead of listening to Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee chief Ajay Maken, he should talk to his elected Puducherry chief minister.

Speaking at the AICC briefing, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari termed the developments in Delhi as "unfortunate" and said the party was keeping a close watch on the situation.

"What is happening in Delhi is extremely unfortunate. It is an evolving situation. We are observing the same very carefully and keeping a close watch on the developments," he told reporters.

In a meeting chaired by Ajay Maken, a resolution was passed that sought attention of the chief ministers who visited Delhi and extended support to their Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal.

"The resolution condemns the air-conditioned dharna politics of the Kejriwal government and the BJP leaders at a time when the city is facing acute water and power shortage, severe air pollution and sanitation crisis," Maken said.

The Congress resolution also sought the attention of the chief Ministers who extended their support to Kejriwal, he said.

"Kejriwal is trying to find an escape route from his non-performance in the last three and a half years, and the resolution appeals to the ruling parties at the Centre and Delhi to resolve the impasse at the earliest as the national capital has already suffered enough," he said.

Maken alleged that the AAP and BJP jostled on "superfluous issues" but helped one another on "core issues".

"The entire Anna Movement (started in 2011) was aimed at targeting the Congress. The BJP and the RSS were behind this movement and Kejriwal, through this movement, was responsible for bringing Narendra Modi and the BJP to power," the Delhi Congress chief said.

Kejriwal is now trying to "cover-up his governance failures" by "blaming" the administrative setup of Delhi and "non-cooperation" by the bureaucracy, Maken alleged.

Referring to the tussle between the AAP government and IAS officers after the alleged assault on Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash, he said, "Kejriwal never tried to reach out to the bureaucracy and assuage their feelings."

The Congress resolution has also taken strong exception to the conduct of the BJP in Delhi.

"It is utterly shocking that the elected leaders of the BJP are answering Kejriwal's drama politics with their own theatrical performance," it said.

BJP legislators and its West Delhi MP are on a hunger strike at the chief minister's office in the Delhi Secretariat demanding that Kejriwal resume work and address water "crisis" in the city.

As Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's sit-in at the lieutenant governor's office entered the 8th day on Monday, the Delhi government and its IAS officers showed signs of a thaw with both sides expressing readiness for talks to end the impasse.

The development came on a day the Delhi high court virtually disapproved of the sit-in led by Kejriwal and asked the AAP government who had authorised such a protest even as Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who was on a hunger strike since June 13 at the LG's office, was taken to hospital after his health deteriorated.