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New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) announced that it is no longer a part of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA bloc) and questioned the Congress party’s role in leading it.

AAP made the announcement ahead of an online meeting of the leaders of the INDIA bloc parties scheduled for the following day, to discuss the prevailing political situation in the country, ahead of the Monsoon session of Parliament, which starts on July 20.

“The AAP has cleared its stand. The INDIA bloc was for the (2024) Lok Sabha polls. We fought the Delhi and Haryana Assembly polls on our own. We are going to fight the Bihar election solo. We fought the bypolls in Punjab and Gujarat all by ourselves. The AAP is not part of the INDIA. We will strongly raise issues in the Lok Sabha. We have always played the role of a strong opposition,” Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said, adding, his party will not attend the INDIA bloc meeting.

The Arvind Kejriwal-led party contested the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in Delhi and Haryana in an alliance with the Congress. The alliance drew a blank in Delhi, with the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) clean sweep for a third time in a row.

Slamming the Congress, Singh questioned its role in leading the opposition bloc. “It is not child’s play. Did they hold any meeting after the Lok Sabha polls? Was there any initiative to expand the INDIA bloc? Sometimes they criticise Akhilesh Yadav, sometimes Uddhav Thackeray and sometimes Mamata Banerjee. The INDIA should have been united. The Congress is the biggest party in the bloc. But did it play a role (in ensuring opposition unity)?” he asked.

On the AAP’s role in opposing the government, the Rajya Sabha MP said his party has always been strongly opposed the ruling dispensation.

“We will do it with full strength. The INDIA can do whatever it wants,” he added.

According to a senior AAP functionary, the party will raise the issues of Operation Sindoor, demolition of slums in Delhi and the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in Bihar in the upcoming session of Parliament.

After winning the Visavadar Assembly bypoll in Gujarat, Kejriwal had alleged that the ruling BJP had sent the Congress to defeat his party by cutting its votes.

“When the Congress failed, the BJP even reprimanded it. The INDIA bloc was only for the Lok Sabha polls. Now, there is no alliance from our side,” Kejriwal said earlier this month.