Deora praises AAP govt, Maken asks him to leave Congress

A war of words broke out between Congress leaders Milind Deora and Ajay Maken on Twitter after the former praised the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government for doubling its revenue, and the party later cautioned its leaders to introspect their own responsibilities instead.

Former Delhi Congress chief Maken criticised Deora for his "half-baked facts" and said he may leave the party if he wished to.

Deora, the former Mumbai Congress chief, in a Twitter post on Monday said, "Sharing a lesser known and welcome fact the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government doubled its revenues to Rs 60,000 crore and maintained a revenue surplus over the last 5 years."

"Food for thought: Delhi is now one of India's most fiscally prudent governments," the former Lok Sabha member added.

However, this did not go down well with Maken, who hit back on Twitter, saying, "Brother, you want to leave Congress. Please do-Then propagate half baked facts!

"However, let me share even lesser know facts-1997-98-BE(Revenue) 4,073cr, 2013-14-BE (Revenue) 37,459cr. During Congress Govt Grew at 14.87% CAGR, 2015-16 BE 41,129 and 2019 -20 BE 60,000 AAP Gov 9.90% CAGR," he said.

Deora again hit back at Maken saying, "Brother, I would never undermine Sheila Dikshit's stellar performance as Delhi CM. That's your specialty."

Saying it's never too late to change, Deora tweeted, "Instead of advocating an alliance with AAP, if only you had highlighted Sheila ji's achievements, Congres would've been in power today."

Sheila Dikshit, who died in July last, served as Delhi's chief minister for 15 years from 1998 to 2013.

Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the party had unequivocally told all its Delhi leaders to introspect their roles and responsibilities.

Aam Aadmi Party president Kejriwal was sworn in as the chief minister of Delhi for the third time on Sunday, after his party got a landslide victory in the Assembly polls.

"Congress leaders in the rest of India commenting upon issues outside their states, need to look at their own performances, their own responsibilities and their own commitment to the party.

"How much has the Congress gained in their own respective areas or under their own leadership? I urge each one of the Congress leaders, that they should concentrate first their role and responsibility on strengthening the Congress in their respective constituency and the state that they come from," Surjewala told reporters.

He said the day they will be able to do so, they will be making positive yeoman's contribution to not only the growth of the party but also the politics of pluralism and inclusiveness that they all espouse.

Surjewala said sometimes in the heat of the moment, people make remarks but every such statement is not treated as an affront.

"This advisory to all the seasoned and young leaders should help them look at their own role and responsibility," he said in comments that are considered to be a reprimand to all leaders fighting with each other in public.

When asked about friction within the leaders in various states, Surjewala said, "We hope the new leaders will be leading the Congress party in the state of Karnataka soon."

On the war of words between Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath and Jyotiraditya Scindia, he said they are amongst the most dedicated leaders of the party and anybody coming with a grievance to a leader is required to be heard and their grievance articulated in the mechanism created by the Congress.

"What you see as a spat is actually a manufactured one from an outsider's perspective. I think the equation between Kamal Nath and Jyotiraditya Scindia is absolutely cordial and great and both are working towards strengthening the party.

"I see no reason for the stories that are being planted in a systematic fashion in a section of the media, I reject these stories completely," he said.

Surjewala said in Delhi, the contest was between Kejriwal's 'Dangal' Delhi and Modi's 'Danga' Delhi and if someone changed the ground situation in Delhi, it was the Congress under Sheila Dikshit.

"Economic activity is the highest in Delhi, being the national capital and tax collection rise of 18 per cent rise is natural. Please do not tell how much revenue was generated, but Kejriwal should tell what has been done towards public welfare. He has won, we accept the verdict while bowing.

"But, did Kejriwal add a single litre of water for Delhi... did he produce one more unit of power in Delhi or even made one new flyover, or added new Metro lines or added another university or hospital in Delhi. If he has not done anything of this, he did benefit from the structure laid down by Sheila Dikshit," he asked.

"Sometimes, the truth loses but the fact is that the truth cannot be defeated. In Delhi, the truth is the Congress has lost but we have not been defeated,"he claimed.