First off the blocks, AAP says will tie-up with Congress in Gujarat

He added that if the parties did a “good job” of “distributing seats” among themselves, they could win all the 26 seats in the state.

AAP Gujarat spokesperson Karan Barot said that the AAP and the Congress would field candidates after evaluating the strength of the parties to take on the BJP in various constituencies.

The Congress, however, remained non-committal, saying that the decision would finally rest with the Congress central leadership.

A senior state Congress leader told The Indian Express that “the announcement has been made prematurely”. He said that the “final decision on the upcoming elections will be taken by leaders of the INDIA alliance”.

Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi told news agency PTI: “I have just learned about his announcement. Seat-sharing agreements with other parties are finalised by the central leadership. It is their prerogative to decide pre-poll tie ups.”

Gujarat BJP spokesperson Rutvij Patel said that for the BJP, which has swept all the Lok Sabha seats in the last two terms, the 2024 elections would be about increasing margins.

“Ever since the rise of AAP, we have been  clearly saying that it is a B team of the Congress. Today, by announcing this alliance, they have proved our allegations correct.”

“We have been winning all 26 Lok Sabha seats for the last two terms. This time, (state BJP president) C R Paatil has given us a target of winning all the seats by margin of over five lakh votes. Recently, the Union Home and Cooperation minister, Amit Shah told parliament that the opposition parties can forge any alliance, but Narendrabhai Modi is going to become the Prime Minister with a mammoth majority.”

In last year’s Gujarat Assembly elections, held in December 2022, the Congress and AAP had fought against each other. While the Congress had secured 17 seats, AAP had managed to win five seats in the 182-member House.