Shimla, Sep 13 (PTI) The Congress on Tuesday dubbed the AAP as "B team of BJP" and said the Arvind Kejriwal-led party is trying to mislead the voters of Himachal Pradesh by making false promises in the name of pre-poll guarantees.

Congress spokesperson Alka Lamba told the media here that there would be a direct contest between the ruling BJP and the Congress in the hill state in the coming assembly elections scheduled to be held later this year.

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The Himachal bypolls have proved that only Congress is in a position to defeat the “double engine” government of BJP, she said, adding that the coming assembly polls would be fought on the issues of unemployment, inflation, apple orchardists and women security.

Congress defeated BJP in HP bypolls to Mandi Lok Sabha seat and three assembly seats of Fatehpur, Arki and Jubbal-Kotkhai held in October last year.

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The AAP, “BJP's B team”, is making “false promises” in the name of poll guarantees in an effort to mislead the electors of the hill state, she added.

Congress was in direct contest with BJP in Uttarakhand and Goa polls but AAP contested elections in both the states to “ensure” BJP's victory, Lamba alleged.

AAP is "B team of BJP" and it is evident from the fact that AAP's CM candidate in Uttarakhand joined BJP after losing his security deposit, she said.

Lamba further stated that the entire AAP unit of Himachal Pradesh had also joined BJP overnight in the presence of its national president J P Nadda.

At the press conference, Punjab Youth Congress president Barinder Singh Dhillon claimed that the voters of Punjab have fed up with the AAP government within a few months as it failed to maintain the law and order situation.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)