The warm hug that Arvind Kejriwal of the Aam Aadmi Party and Kapil Sibal of the Congress shared at a Delhi mosque today made for a Kodak moment.
It was also much in keeping with the spirit of partnership. Mr. Kejriwal is the Chief Minister of Delhi and heads a minority government propped up by the Congress. Mr. Sibal is the Congress’ Lok Sabha member from Delhi’s Chandni Chowk, where the Sheikhan mosque, where the two leaders met on the occasion of Milan-un-Nabi, is situated.
But the broad smiles that the two leaders wore as they shared their “jadoo ki jhappi,” was in contrast to a political battle that they waged only months ago.
Mr. Sibal was one of Mr. Kejriwal’s chief targets in his slew of allegations against central ministers, when he took on the Congress-led government on corruption.
Soon after Mr. Sibal took over as Law Minister last year, Mr. Kejriwal and his associates had alleged that the Congress leader had a conflict of interest in the controversial Vodafone tax case.
In December, days after the Delhi assembly election results were announced, Mr. Sibal’s son, lawyer Amit Sibal filed a defamation suit against Mr. Kejriwal.
Since AAP’s spectacular debut in the Delhi polls, however, Mr. Sibal has posted a number of tweets supportive and appreciative of Mr. Kejriwal. He was also one of the first to effusively congratulate Mr. Kejriwal on his “great performance in Delhi.”
