Congress disapproves of Sheila Dikshit's remarks backing BJP

Congress on Thursday disapproved of former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit's remarks that the BJP should be given an opportunity to form government in Delhi. Distancing itself from the statement, party general secretary in-charge for Delhi Shakeel Ahmed dubbed it as "personal opinion".

"Shiela Ji's comments on govt formation in Delhi, may be her personal opinion. Congress MLAs & AICC are totally against extending support to BJP", Ahmed tweeted. Delhi Congress termed Dikshit's remarks as "shocking" and said they do not represent the party's stand. "We are shocked by Sheila Dikshit's statement on government formation. It is her personal views and Congress has nothing to do with it. Our stand is very clear from day one that Congress would not let the BJP form government in the national capital," Delhi Congress' chief spokesperson Mukesh Sharma said.

Ajay Maken, another Congress General Secretary and Chairman of the Congress Media Department, spoke in the same vein. Maken, who hails from Delhi and is a former Union Minister, tweeted "Shiela Ji's comments on Govt formation in Delhi may be her personal opinion. We are against BJP forming Govt. b'cause they don't have numbers". "In a democracy, elected governments are always good as they represent the people. If BJP has reached such a situation that it can form government, it is good for Delhi," Dikshit, a three-time Chief Minister of Delhi, said here.

She said, "as far as I could understand, every MLA, whether he is from Congress or AAP or others, doesn't want election. People are saying that the MLAs have just been elected and their membership has not crossed even one year. As far as I can understand and people are telling me that they (MLAs) want government to be formed." The 76-year-old leader said that MLAs, whether they are from Congress, AAP or others, do not want election.

The statement by Dikshit, who recently resigned as Governor of Kerala leading to speculation about her return to active politics, has come at a time when AAP and Congress have been accusing BJP of trying to poach MLAs to form government in Delhi. Delhi BJP, however, praised Dikshit for her "straightforward" statement over current political deadlock in the national capital while the Aam Aadmi Party said that it was not surprised as "there is hardly any difference between BJP and Congress".