Delhi Cong chief Maken accuses BJP of ‘intimidating’, ‘luring’ Congressmen

New Delhi, April 19 (PTI): Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken on Wednesday accused the BJP of “intimidating” his party’s leaders and “luring” them away using power as a bait, on a day senior DPCC leader Arvinder Singh Lovely joined the saffron party.
Maken who has been attacked by a section of senior leaders of Delhi Congress over ticket distribution for MCD polls, said it was “sad” that people were ready to give preference to “lust for power” over political ideology.“BJP is geared to lure Congress leaders, using intimidation and greed to make them join the party. It raises a question whether ideology or lust for power will decide the kind of politics we pursue,” he said at an election rally in Peeragarhi.
Without naming Lovely, Maken said he got “everything” from the Congress and yet was lured by the BJP for his “lust for power”.
“There are several Congress leaders who got everything from Congress. One such leader who was made a minister even after becoming first-time MLA and remained minister for 10 years in a row, who was made Delhi president, today joined BJP,” he said.
Maken asserted that Congress led by Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi held on to its ideology whether it was in power or not.
“One day you are a worker and then you become a leader. I am on this post (president of Delhi Congress) but I will not remain here forever but we will never change our ideology,” he said.
Lovely today hit out at Maken after joining BJP, saying that he was “foisted” on Delhi Congress despite losing heavily and even losing his deposit in the 2015 Assembly elections.
Earlier, another senior leader and Lovely’s colleague in former Sheila Dikshit government in Delhi, A K Walia, had come out in the open against Maken and questioned ticket distribution for MCD polls and threatened to quit the Congress over the issue.