‘Largest Oppn party in North India’: AAP’s claim rubs it in for Congress

After today’s results, @AamAadmiParty emerges as the largest opposition party in north India with 2 state governments – Punjab and Delhi.

— Jasmine Shah (@Jasmine441) December 3, 2023

The Congress, which was in power in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, lost to the BJP in both states, and was routed in Madhya Pradesh. It won in Telangana. In North India, Congress’s lone state government is now in Himachal Pradesh. It is also in power in Karnataka and is an alliance partner in Bihar.

The AAP, whose vote share in Rajasthan, MP and Chhattisgarh was below that for ‘none of the above’ (NOTA), said in a statement, “We congratulate BJP for the win in three states. We sincerely hope that it will come through on its promise and provide homes under the ‘Mukhyamantri Ladli Behna Awas Yojana’. We also hope that the BJP will provide LPG at Rs 450, as promised. We demand that cheaper LPG should be provided for the entire nation and not be limited to the three states.”

“If the alliance survives and proceeds, the Congress will have to make compromises in the number of seats that it contests in 2024,” he added.

While congratulating the Congress for its victory in Telangana, AAP said, “This is however not reflective of the mood of the nation for Lok Sabha as Congress won MP, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan in 2018 but the BJP won the 2019 Lok Sabha.”

Responding to its loss in three states, the party said in a statement, “AAP is in the formative stage in these states and we were contesting to ensure that our message reaches everyone. BJP lost its deposits on 31 seats in the Karnataka elections.

PM Narendra Modi himself campaigned in Andhra Pradesh but BJP lost on all 173/173 seats and scored less than NOTA. Did this affect the BJP vote share in Gujarat?”
Alliance talk

According to senior AAP leaders, the Assembly election results will change the power dynamics within the alliance.

“There was a strong buzz of Congress winning Chhattisgarh and MP and we would have given them an upper hand. After the results, that position is expected to change,” said an AAP leader. “If the alliance survives and proceeds, the Congress will have to make compromises in the number of seats that it contests in 2024,” he added.

Another leader said that the meeting on Wednesday is going to set the tone for the way the alliance for 2024 proceeds. “Congress will have to respect other political parties… Congress will continue to lose till Rahul Gandhi is in race with Modi rather than the BJP,” another leader
said.

The AAP, which was pushing for an alliance with the Congress in the city and in Haryana ahead of the 2019 elections but could not agree on the seat-sharing matrix, is expected to seek at least five out of seven seats in Delhi in the upcoming polls.

“Had the Congress won the two states, it would have sought 4-5 seats. Now that situation is expected to be reversed. The AAP, however, with its senior leaders in jail over the alleged liquor policy scam, is not in a very powerful position either,” said a party insider.

Congress leaders also pointed to AAP’s weakened position. “AAP is not as powerful as it once was and cannot dictate terms for Lok Sabha polls. All of AAP’s strong faces who had a stronghold among the party workers are in jail,” a leader said.