Congress, AAP spar over talks on alliance

On Friday, Maken tweeted: “On ‘so called’ offer of AAP to Congress for 3 seats, look at my reply to Kejriwal. When the people of Delhi are continuously rejecting Kejriwal govt, why should we come to their rescue?”

aap, delhi congress, kairana, ajay maken, aap congress alliance, dilip pandey, indian express

Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken. Express Photo by Prem Nath Pandey/Files

A day after BJP’s defeat in Kairana sparked calls for a united opposition, an online spat between Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken and AAP leader Dilip Pandey underlined the difficulties in stitching such an alliance in the capital.

On Friday, Maken tweeted: “On ‘so called’ offer of AAP to Congress for 3 seats, look at my reply to Kejriwal. When the people of Delhi are continuously rejecting Kejriwal govt, why should we come to their rescue?”

Pandey, on the other hand, said, “Some senior leaders of AAP are in touch with the Congress in Haryana, Delhi and Punjab. They want our support.”

That AAP has been outside the Congress’s efforts to stitch together an alliance of opposition parties is no secret. AAP leaders explained that with the party in power in Delhi, and being the main Opposition to the Congress in Punjab, it is difficult to bridge the gap. Despite this, CM Arvind Kejriwal went to the swearing-in ceremony of H D Kumaraswamy in Karnataka last month. He also tweeted praise for former PM Manmohan Singh Wednesday.

A senior AAP leader claimed the party is in touch with the Congress on “two or three different levels”. “We are yet to find a good candidate for two seats — west Delhi and new Delhi. In New Delhi, anyone who contests with AAP support is likely to win… It is Kejriwal’s seat,” said the AAP leader.

An AAP leader also sought to suggest that the spat on Twitter was “optics” in the course of seat negotiations.

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