Delhi convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party Gopal Rai on Friday said the comments of Delhi Congress head Sheila Dikshit praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi has proved that the Congress is helping the Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
Dikshit purportedly said in a TV interview on Thursday that former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh "wasn't as strong or as determined" as Modi in responding to terror attacks.
"We failed to understand the compulsion behind Dikshit praising Modi and the Congress' mysterious silence on this serious issue," Rai told the media here.
"It appears that Dikshit is preparing to become a Governor once again and is not interested in contesting the Lok Sabha elections in Delhi," he said.
The AAP said in a statement that it was "extremely surprised" at the behaviour of the Delhi Congress unit, which has been a willing partner in all BJP deeds during the last four years since the AAP government was elected in Delhi.
"Dikshit's strange statement gives rise to reasonable apprehensions that due to some undisclosed deal between the BJP and the Congress, she is speaking the unimaginable," the statement said.
It also said that Dikshit has been consistently giving statements in tacit support of the BJP even on governance issues of Delhi.
"She has even been saying that it is the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi and not the elected government which holds real power," it said.
The AAP added that during the last four years, though it was not known in which capacity, Dikshit has been consistently opposed to giving any power to the elected Delhi government.
All her statements make it clear that Dikshit has been in a secret deal with the BJP and her latest support for Modi has proved this beyond doubt, the AAP statement said.
On her part, Dikshit later said in a tweet: "I have seen some media is twisting my comments made in an interview. Here is what I said -- it may seem to some people that Modi is stronger on terror but I think this is a poll gimmick more than anything else."