After doggedly pursuing Congress to form an alliance to fight the upcoming Lok Sabha elections jointly and with senior AAP leaders including its chief Arvind Kejriwal’s repeated requests to Congress on forming a coalition, the Aam Aadmi Party on Monday declared that Congress has taken too long to deliberate on the alliance and the offer to fight jointly now stands cancelled.
Eliminating any possibility of an alliance between AAP and Congress, Gopal Rai, the convener of Delhi unit of AAP (AAP) told reporters that there is no possibility of an alliance with Congress since candidates for all seven seats in Delhi are now declared. The party will not roll back its candidates, so there is no scope for a coalition, he said.
Gopal Rai further added that they have arrived at the conclusion that Congress is not serious about Delhi. He contended that in the states where Congress is serious, they are putting their efforts but the same cannot be told about Delhi. AAP had declared its seventh candidate on Sunday. The candidates for the other six seats were already announced.
On the question of an initiative to negotiate on behalf of the Congress, he said that there is no scope now. Delhi is going to the polls on May 12 for all its 7 seats. The party is unable to arrive at any conclusion due to lack of general consensus about the alliance with the AAP among the Congress leadership. Congress state president Sheila Dikshit has summarily rejected any possibility of the alliance, while other leaders, including former state president Ajay Maken, are advocating for a coalition.
Senior AAP leaders including Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has been continuously requesting to the Congress leadership for forming an alliance in Delhi and fighting the elections jointly. However, the Delhi unit of Congress has been ambiguous about the alliance with many leaders opposing a coalition with AAP. As a consequence, Congress has chosen not to respond to the desperate entreaties made by Arvind Kejriwal, forcing AAP to fight on its own.
