Cracks in INDIA bloc, but Delhi offers hope for AAP-Congress alliance

AAP and Congress have met twice to discuss seat-sharing in the Capital, which has seven Lok Sabha seats. All seven have been won by the BJP since 2014.

While Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has not been part of the two meetings so far, he met Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and former President Rahul Gandhi in the Capital last week.

The road, however, is not all clear with ‘four’ being the bone of contention. That is, which party will contest four of the seven seats.

“At present, negotiations are revolving around which party will contest four seats in Delhi. For the sake of the larger national cause, we are ready to contest on four seats, even though we deserve to contest on five based on our performance in 2019,” said a senior Congress leader.

According to sources, the AAP wants to contest from the North East, Chandni Chowk, North West and West seats; the Congress from East, New Delhi and South.

“Not just in Delhi, but we are also willing to accommodate the AAP on one seat each in Haryana and Gujarat. The objective is to stop the BJP from taking advantage of a triangular contest in states,” another Congress leader said.

In Gujarat, the AAP has already announced Chaitar Vasava as its candidate from Bharuch.

The next meeting in regard to the alliance is likely to take place next week.