Congress & AAP to discuss seat-sharing for Lok Sabha today; both want 4 out of 7 seats in Delhi

This, even as Congress sources complained regarding the AAP’s “unilateral” decision to field its jailed Gujarat MLA, Chaitar Vasava, from the Bharuch Lok Sabha seat in the upcoming polls.

“We will, on the basis of our performance in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, demand five seats where the party had claimed the second-highest vote share. Since these are general elections, according to us, lack of seats at the Assembly-level does not apply, and any comparison is valid only with the party’s performance in the previous Lok Sabha polls,” said a senior Congress leader.

“If push comes to shove regarding the number of seats they (the AAP) are willing to concede, the Congress, in the national interest and as the larger partner, is willing to discuss the prospect of a 4-3 seat-sharing arrangement,” said another leader.

Three AAP leaders who attended Monday’s meeting — national general secretary (organisation) Sandeep Pathak and Delhi ministers Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj — will attend the meeting. AAP Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha is also likely to be in attendance, sources said.

Rajya Sabha MP and Congress general secretary Mukul Wasnik, National Alliance Committee (NAC) member Ashok Gehlot, former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, Delhi and Haryana in-charge Deepak Babaria, and Delhi PCC (Pradesh Congress Committee) chief Arvinder Singh Lovely are likely to represent the Congress.

AAP sources said that a discussion on seat-sharing will take place. “The leaders will discuss seat-sharing not just in Delhi but in other states as well,” a source said.

When asked about the AAP’s inclination to discuss seat-sharing in other states, a Congress source said there was still some time left for that. AAP Delhi convenor Gopal Rai, on Tuesday, had said that the party wants to contest with its alliance partners in five states — Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Goa and Gujarat.

Out of these five states, AAP does not have a presence in the Haryana state Assembly. It has 62 out of 70 MLAs in Delhi; 92 out of 117 in Punjab; four out of 182 in Gujarat, and two out of 40 in Goa. “What basis is there to forgo seats in Haryana, for instance, where the Congress not just has its own cadre but massive support from the grassroots? As it is, their (the AAP’s) decision to unilaterally announce a candidate for Gujarat has not gone down well with the Congress,” the source quoted above said.

During Monday’s meeting between the two parties, AAP leaders had expressed the possibility of a 4-3 seat-sharing formula, staking claim in particular to the northeast Delhi seat. Congress sources said the AAP also wants to contest from Chandni Chowk, Northwest and West Delhi.