The AAP held a press conference on Saturday, 20 April, to reiterate that the party had tried everything to formulate an alliance with the Congress but failed. “They are not willing to compromise in any way,” AAP’s Sanjay Singh said. Meanwhile, a senior Congress leader too confirmed to IANS that the party would now contest alone in the upcoming elections.
Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said that giving three seats to the Congress in the national capital would mean "giving three seats to the BJP", when asked his opinion on the 4:3 seat sharing formula proposed by the Congress.
With the nomination process for the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi set to close on Tuesday, 23 April, the three major parties in the fray – the Aam Aadmi Party, Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party – are expected to announce their candidates soon.
Meanwhile, the Congress and BJP too, are reportedly in the final stages of getting their lists ready.
- AAP likely to announce final decision on alliance with Congress on Saturday
- Congress’ list of probable candidates has been sent to Rahul Gandhi
- BJP too, is likely to announce their list on 20 April
Congress To Contest Alone In Delhi
The Congress is all set to contest the Lok Sabha polls in the national capital alone by fielding candidates on all the seven parliamentary seats, a senior party leader told news agency IANS.
The leader told IANS: "Talks with the AAP have failed and we will go all alone in the Lok Sabha polls in Delhi."
Asked about the candidates, he said: "The party has decided to field former Union Minister Ajay Maken from New Delhi, former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit from Chandni Chowk, Olympian wrestler Sushil Kumar from West Delhi and Aravinder Lovely from East Delhi."
He said the party will field Ramesh Kumar from South Delhi, Raj Kumar Chauhan from North West Delhi and JP Agarwal from North East Delhi.
Congress Backtracked in Haryana: Sanjay Singh
AAP leader Sanjay Singh also divulged details on the alliance and the proposed seat calculations in Haryana during the press conference on Saturday, 20 April.
"After discussions with our alliance partner in Haryana, JJP, we agreed to it but the Congress refused and said they can't give more than two seats to the JJP and proposed a 7:2:1 formula," Singh said, who was negotiating with the Congress.
JJP chief Dushyant Chautala had even agreed to that but then the Congress backtracked again on Friday night, saying there is no possibility of formation of any alliance anywhere except Delhi, he added, as per PTI.
We Must Look Beyond Our Own Seat Equations: Manish Sisodia
Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi Manish Sisodia said that both the parties must look beyond personal seat equations. “Our aim should be to see that BJP doesn’t come to power.”
Sisodia said that giving three seats to the Congress in the national capital would mean “giving three seats to the BJP”.
“Congress, at the moment, is only concerned about its own seat calculations, while we should only be thinking about what arithmetic is needed to stop Modi-Shah,” he added.
He also said that the Congress had first proposed a 6:3:1 seat sharing formula to the AAP in Haryana, where six seats would be for Congress, three for Janayak Janata Party and one seat for AAP.
'We Tried Everything Possible': AAP on Failed Alliance With Congress
The AAP held a press conference on Saturday, 20 April, to reiterate that the party had tried everything to formulate an alliance with the Congress but failed. “They are not willing to compromise in any way,” AAP’s Sanjay Singh said. “Haryana, Punjab, Goa, Chandigarh... they are not willing to compromise.”
“Had we formed an alliance on 18 seats, it would have sent out a clear message to the public – that Narendra Modi-Amit Shah are not coming back to power,” he added.
“If the divisive BJP comes back to power... Congress must be blamed for it,” Singh said.