Amid claims and counterclaims about a possible alliance between the AAP and the Congress for the 2019 general elections in Delhi, the BJP unit on Friday, 1 June, said that it was undeterred by such a move.
Reports of the Congress-AAP alliance neither "surprises us nor distracts us," Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari said.
The tweets of leaders of the two parties in this context are a game plan towards creating a political atmosphere for a coalition. It will be an immoral coalition with a motive to mislead the people of Delhi.Manoj Tiwari, Delhi BJP President
There were claims and counter-claims by the leaders of the AAP and the Congress over a possible seat-sharing arrangement for the Lok Sabha polls.
"On 'so called' offer of AAP to Congress for 3 seats, look at my reply to (Arvind) Kejriwal," tweeted Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee chief .
When the people of Delhi are continuously rejecting the Kejriwal government, why should we come to their rescue? After all, Kejriwal with team Anna supported by RSS, helped in creating this monster of Modi.Ajay Maken, Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee Chief
On Thursday, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal praised former prime minister Manmohan Singh. He had previously reviled Singh during his anti-graft campaign and again during the 2013 Delhi Assembly and the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
Kejriwal's praise triggered speculations that the two parties were cosying up to put up a united fight against the BJP.
Reacting to Maken's tweet, AAP spokesperson Dilip Pandey said it was the Congress that had approached the AAP and not the other way around.
BJP MLA and Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta said the "sinking ship" of AAP has found support in the Congress.
"AAP came into power by campaigning against corruption of Congress, Manmohan Singh and Sheila governments. It is ironic that the party which came to power in Delhi on the wave of anti-corruption movement today finds a ray of hope for its future in the corrupt Congress."
He claimed that the AAP-Congress alliance was in the air for quite some time and Trinamool Congress chief Mamta Banerjee was playing the role of the "guardian angel".
Formed in November 2012, the AAP won 28 seats in the 2013 Assembly polls, defeating the Congress which bagged 8 seats.
The BJP bagged 33.07 percent votes while the Congress and the AAP secured 24.59 per cent and 29.49 percent votes respectively.
In 2015 Assembly polls, the BJP won three seats and its vote-share was 32.19 percent, a decline of 0.88 percent in comparison to its show in 2013.
However, the Congress fared the worst as it secured only 9.65 percent votes and could not open account, while the AAP got 54.3 percent votes and bagged 67 out 70 seats.
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