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Journalism of Courage
Even as the Aam Aadmi Party announced candidates for six Lok Sabha seats in Delhi, sources in the Congress and AAP indicated that doors for an alliance between the two parties are not shut yet. However, AAP’s demand for a seat-sharing pact in Punjab and the Congress’s demand for a “respectable” number of seats in Delhi continue to be the irritants.
AAP’s decision came a day after the Congress Delhi unit reiterated that it was not in favour of an alliance with the Arvind Kejriwal-led party.
The high-level meeting where the decision was taken was chaired by DPCC president Sheila Dikshit and attended by several top Congress leaders, including her predecessor Ajay Maken. On Saturday, Dikshit met leaders who were not at the meeting. Sources said A K Walia, Rajkumar Chouhan and Yoganand Shastri did not attend it.
Senior AAP leaders, however, said the Congress has spoken about a 3-3-1 ticket distribution pattern, where both parties get three tickets each and one goes to an independent candidate.
But AAP is opposed to the idea. “The Congress doesn’t have a single MLA in Delhi. We also got twice as many votes as them in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. It is impossible for us to give them three candidates. The most that the party leadership is willing to go with is two. There has been no discussion on the constituencies that could be divided,” said a senior AAP leader.
AAP has said several times that it is in favour of an alliance, with Kejriwal stating that the Congress is blocking it.
Sources said the developments over the past two days could be seen as both parties trying to pressure the other into reaching an understanding on their formulae.
“Things can still change but declaring candidates on six out of seven seats was a clear indication that AAP is not willing to bend too much. The seventh candidate has not been declared as we haven’t found a suitable person — not because that’s the seat we want to give to the Congress. Discussions haven’t reached that stage yet,” said an AAP leader.
Congress high command leaders told The Indian Express that the party is under pressure from “secular” and like-minded” parties in the opposition to join hands with the AAP and put up a united front against the BJP in Delhi.
This, sources said, has resulted in Congress president Rahul Gandhi asking the Delhi unit to reconsider its earlier position. “One cannot rule out the possibilities. But there are many if and buts,” said a senior Congress leader.
“We are against an alliance with AAP. But the final decision in our party… is taken by the high command,” a senior Delhi Congress leader said.
DPCC chief Sheila Dikshit, however, ruled out an alliance: “Every party has its strategy and this is AAP’s way of taking things. At Congress, we believe in strengthening within. There is no question of an alliance.”
