The Congress Thursday welcomed AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal's critical remarks about development claims of the Narendra Modi government in Gujarat and said there was a need to make people aware of the reality about the state's progress.Addressing a press conference at the Congress office here, party leader and union minister Shashi Tharoor said "a voice other than that of the Congress is showing deficiencies" of the Gujarat government."Congress wants Gujarat to develop. Our only concern is that Modi (is) pretending a lot," he said.Referring to Kejriwal's remarks about development claims of the Modi government, Tharoor said: "We welcome that."Kejriwal, who is currently in Gujarat, had said Wednesday that he did not find evidence of development as claimed by the Modi government.
Tharoor said there was a need for the media to look into "the myth created about Gujarat", and to make people "aware of reality".Asked if the Aam Aadmi Party would seize the space occupied by the Congress in Gujarat, Tharoor said: "No one can take that space."To a question about the clash at the Bharatiya Janata Party office Wednesday between BJP and AAP workers, Tharoor said the Congress condemns violence irrespective of who perpetrates it."(It is) revealing of the kind of politics that awaits us," he said.He said the clash involved forces of violence and forces of "anarchy".