NEW DELHI: The AAP national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday said that the talks with Congress for a tie up in the national capital for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls were in final stages and the alliance would be announced soon.
“Alliance with them (Congress) will be announced very soon,” newsagency PTI quoted the CM as saying. Replying to the questions of reporters in a press conference, Kejriwal rejected the possibility of AAP reconsidering its decision to contest the parliamentary polls independently in Punjab.
The AAP and Congress are partners in the Indian Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) and have been discussing a seat-sharing formula in Delhi and other states. Kejriwal said several rounds of discussions have taken place and things are in the final stages, when asked about chances of AAP’s alliance with Congress in Delhi.
For other states too, several rounds of discussions had been held and the talks were in advanced stages, he told reporters. The AAP had earlier said it was holding talks with the INDIA bloc for pact ahead of Lok Sabha polls, in Gujarat, Haryana, Delhi, and Goa. Kejriwal, when asked if his party would reconsider its decision of going solo in Punjab, replied “Do not worry, that (contesting independently) is a strategy for victory.”
AAP national general secretary (organisation) Sandeep Pathak recently said that the party has demanded eight out of 26 Lok Sabha seats from Congress in Gujarat.
He said that the AAP won five seats by polling a total 13 per cent votes in the last Assembly polls in Gujarat and claimed eight Lok Sabha seats in the state for the coming polls, while offering remaining 18 to the Congress.
He had also offered one Lok Sabha seat out of the eight in Delhi to the Congress saying it did not deserve even that based on its previous election track record. The Congress has currently zero Lok Sabha and Assembly seats in Delhi. The AAP has so far unilaterally declared its candidates in two seats each in Gujarat and Assam and one in Goa. Pathak had said that if a decision was not soon taken on in Delhi, his party will declare its candidates.
INDIA working?
The AAP and Congress are partners in the Indian Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) and have been discussing a seat-sharing formula in Delhi and other states. The Congress has currently zero Lok Sabha and Assembly seats in Delhi. The AAP has so far unilaterally declared its candidates in two seats each in Gujarat and Assam and one in Goa.