‘Zero plus zero is zero’: Amit Shah derides AAP-Congress alliance for Delhi

PTI, Mar 12, 2024, 8:11 AM IST

Amit Shah (Credit: PTI / File)

New Delhi: Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday took a swipe at the AAP for joining hands with the Congress in Delhi for the Lok Sabha polls, saying whether the Arvind Kejriwal-led party forms an alliance with the Congress or merges with it ‘nothing is going to happen because zero plus zero remains zero’.

The AAP and the Congress have no Lok Sabha seat from Delhi where the BJP won all the seven seats in 2019 and 2014 elections.

“You can keep forming alliances but Prime Minister Modi will return to power with over 400 seats,” Shah asserted.

The Aam Aadmi Party hit back at the home minister for his tirade, saying the people of Delhi have shown their repeated preference for an ‘honest government’. They will ensure the ouster of the BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and lend further strength to Arvind Kejriwal in the Parliament, it said.

Shah slammed the AAP as he launched piped natural gas supply line in 41 villages and developmental works in 178 villages of the national capital under Dilli Gramodaya Abhiyan. He was accompanied by Delhi Lt Governor V K Saxena and Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Puri.

“Whether you have alliance with the Congress or even merge with it, nothing is going to happen because zero plus zero remains zero,” Shah said, referring to the tie-up between the two parties in Delhi, Gujarat and Haryana.

He also slammed Kejriwal, alleging that he rose to power by fighting against corruption and scams of the Congress but is now having alliance with the party.

“There are two types of people in politics — one those who deliver on what they say and the others who do the opposite. Both types of people are present in Delhi. One is Narendra Modi and the other is Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal who has not done anything that he said,” the home minister said.

He said the AAP-Congress alliance will not succeed.

“You sat in the lap of the Congress, the very same party you accused of corruption. You are acknowledging the corruption of the Congress. You can keep on forming alliances but Prime Minister Modi will return to power with over 400 seats,” Shah asserted.

Shah also hit out at Kejriwal accusing him of being involved in a ‘series of scams’.

“It is the first time that the Education Minister has gone to jail for involvement in excise scam. You had said that you will not come into politics, or become chief minister but you became the chief minister thrice. You had said you will not avail facilities but you not only availed them but built a ”sheeshmahal”. You say you are ”kattar imaandar’?” Shah said.

Former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, who also hold the education portfolio, was arrested in February last year for alleged involved in excise policy case. He tendered his resignation from the Delhi cabinet after his arrest.

Shah said Prime Minister Modi started a new culture in the country in last 10 years by implementing all the promises he made with people.

“Prime Minister Modi gave LPG cylinders to 13 crore mothers of the country, provided piped gas to the homes of one crore people, tap water to 14 crore homes, built 14 crore toilets, more than three crore houses and provided five kg free food grains per person per month,” he said.

Modi has worked to fulfil the dreams of the people of the country and earned their trust, he said.

Whether it is the abolition of instant triple talaq or implementing CAA, Modi has created an atmosphere of new zeal, optimism and enthusiasm in the country by fulfilling every promise and that is why the entire country is moving forward today with new confidence to become fully developed and self-reliant by 2047, Shah said.

He said it is a big day for rural Delhi that 41 villages are being provided with piped natural gas facility and various development works in 178 villages with a fund of Rs 383 crore under Dilli Gramodaya Abhiyan has started.

Hitting back at Shah’s allegations, the AAP said this is an election between ”dharma” and ”adharma”.

“On one hand you have the Aam Aadmi party fighting on people-centric issues and on the other is the BJP creating hurdles and becoming an obstacle in any scheme we bring for the betterment of the people of Delhi,” the party said.

The people of Delhi have shown their preference thrice in the Vidhan Sabha elections and in the recently held MCD elections where they voted against the 15 ‘years of misrule of the BJP’.

“The people of Delhi have seen through the tactics of BJP where they bring in new faces before elections to avoid accountability to the people,” it said.

“Where were the BJP MPs when the rights of the citizens of Delhi were snatched through the GNCTD Act? Have you ever heard the BJP MPs raise their voice that the honest hard working citizens of Delhi are amongst the highest tax payers of the country but the BJP does not give a penny from the Central taxes to Delhi?” the AAP said.