War of words between Maken, Deora after latter praises Kejriwal govt

Mumbai, February 17

A war of words broke out between senior Congress leaders Milind Deora and Ajay Maken on Monday after the former praised the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government for doubling its revenue and maintaining a surplus over the last five years.

Former Delhi Congress chief Maken was quick to criticise Deora for his “half-baked facts”, saying he might leave the party if he wished so.

Deora, the former Mumbai Congress chief, in a Twitter post on Monday, said, “Sharing a lesser known & welcome fact the @ArvindKejriwal-led Delhi Government doubled its revenues to Rs 60,000 crore & maintained a revenue surplus over the last 5 years.”

“Food for thought: Delhi is now one of India’s most fiscally prudent governments,” the former Lok Sabha member added.

However, this did not go down well with Maken, who responded with a tweet, saying: “Brother, you want to leave @INCIndia-Please do-Then propagate half baked facts!

“However, let me share even lesser known facts-1997-98- BE(Revenue) 4,073cr, 2013-14-BE (Revenue) 37,459cr. During Congress Govt Grew at 14.87% CAGR, 2015-16 BE 41,129 and 2019 -20 BE 60,000 AAP Gov 9.90% CAGR,” he said.

Deora then hit back at Maken saying, “Brother, I would never undermine Sheila Dikshit’s stellar performance as Delhi CM. Thats your specialty.”

Saying it’s never too late to change, Deora tweeted, “Instead of advocating an alliance with AAP, if only you had highlighted Sheila jis achievements, @INCIndia wouldve been in power today.”

Sheila Dikshit served as Delhi’s chief minister for 15 years from 1998 to 2013. She died in July last year at the age of 81.

Aam Aadmi Party president Kejriwal was sworn in as chief minister of Delhi for the third time on Sunday, after his party got a landslide victory in the Assembly polls. PTI