New Delhi [India], January 9 : As Delhi is gearing up for the assembly elections, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Parvesh Verma on Thursday took a dig at Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal and said that he was "nervous" because he knows that BJP will form the government in the national capital.
"All the other parties of the INDI alliance are non-existent in Delhi. They have no vote bank. Arvind Kejriwal can see he is losing and that is why he is taking support from these parties. BJP is certainly forming government in Delhi and Kejriwal is nervous about that," Verma, who is the BJP candidate from the New Delhi assembly constituency, told ANI.
Verma's reaction comes after Kejriwal on Wednesday announced that the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has extended support to his party in the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections on February 5.
Verma further said that the INDIA bloc doesn't exist since there has been an exchange of allegations among the alliance partners after the Maharashtra assembly election results were declared.
"INDIA alliance does not exist anymore. We saw in Maharashtra that when they lost, they levelled allegations against each other. The people remaining in the (INDIA) alliance are corrupt. They are people whom Arvind Kejriwal used to (verbally) abuse earlier. Delhi understands that he (Kejriwal) is trying to ally with those he was against," Verma said.
It must be noted that Verma is contesting from New Delhi assembly constituency against Kejriwal and Congress' Sandeep Dikshit.
Earlier, in a post on X, Kejriwal thanked West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee earlier for extending her support to AAP.
"TMC has announced support to AAP in Delhi elections. I am personally grateful to Mamta Didi. Thank you, Didi. U have always supported and blessed us in our good and bad times," the AAP Chief said.
Reacting to Kejriwal's post, senior TMC leader Derek O' Brien said, "We have your back Aam Aadmi Party."
On Tuesday, TMC leader Kunal Ghosh said that the people of Delhi will defeat the BJP in the Assembly polls.
"We hope that the AAP government comes back there and BJP is defeated. The people of Delhi will defeat BJP," Ghosh said.
The Delhi assembly polls will be held in a single phase on February 5 and the counting of votes will take place on February 8. The last date for filing nominations is January 17. The date for scrutiny of nominations is January 18. While last date for withdrawal of candidature is January 20.
The Congress, which was in power for 15 consecutive years in Delhi, has suffered setbacks in the last two assembly elections and has failed to win any seat. In contrast, the AAP dominated the 2020 assembly elections by winning 62 out of 70 seats while the BJP got only eight seats.