Delhi Congress opposes alliance or adjustment with AAP

With opposition unity becoming the buzzword, there are renewed speculation in political circles about a possible electoral understanding between the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party. Although the two parties have been bitter rivals and contested against each other in Delhi, Punjab and Gujarat, sections in both the parties seem to be lobbying in favour of an understanding that works in favour of both.

The speculation has received a fillip following a series of electoral victories achieved by unlikely alliances. The Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party joined hands in Gorakhpur and Phoolpur byelections for the Lok Sabha and trumped the BJP. Congress and the Jd (S) which fought against each other in Karnataka came together to form the Government and have announced electoral adjustment for the Lok Sabha election in the state. And SP and BSP backed the Rashtriya Lok Dal candidate at Kairana and managed to beat the BJP.

With AAP retaining pockets of support in Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and maintaining its stronghold in Delhi, the prospect of the two parties coming together, say observers, cannot be entirely ruled out despite strong opposition in both camps to the idea.

Giving more space to AAP in Delhi, feel a section of Congress leaders, would be detrimental to the long-term interests of Congress. Pawan Khera, Congress spokesman and former OSD to Sheila Dikshit, former chief minister of Delhi, tweeted on Saturday an old election material of AAP, which had proclaimed, “ Modi for PM and Arvind ( Kejriwal) for CM” . “ There are some people and parties who piggyback on the winning side. It was BJP then. It is INC now. We need to beware of such shameless opportunists,” tweeted Khera.

Ironically talks of a possible Congress-AAP understanding got a fillip following a chance meeting between Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and former chief minister Sheila Dikshit. However, Dikshit, when contacted, was non-commital. “I don’t know why this talk is circulating because it has no meaning. The decision to go with AAP or any other party will be taken taken by the Congress High Command and CWC”.

A spokesperson of AAP, Dilip Pandey, however maintained that a few ‘ senior Congress leaders’ were in touch with AAP.

Among the various adjustments doing the rounds are the following :

• AAP will not put up any candidate for the seven seats in the Lok Sabha from Delhi, facilitating a direct contest between Congress and BJP. In return, Congress will align with AAP for the Delhi Assembly election in 2020 as a junior partner.
• AAP to contest six of the seven Lok Sabha seats from Delhi but will not contest in Rajasthan, MP and Punjab so as not to split opposition votes.
• Congress contests five seats in Delhi, leaving two for AAP, which will not contest in the other northern states where it has pockets of influence.
• AAP contests in four Lok Sabha seats in Delhi, leaving three seats to the Congress depending upon the vote-share of the two parties in the last MCD election.

Several Congress leaders in Delhi are said to be opposed to any understanding with AAP in Delhi. “we should not go for alliance as it will finish the local Congress and Delhi will become another UP for Congress. Delhi Congress workers had faced the worst situation and now when things are turning out for the better we should not go for alliance, ” says former PWD Minister of Delhi Rajkumar Chauhan.

Former Minister and President of Delhi Pradesh Congress Ajay Maken says “since 2015 the Congress vote percentage is increasing. It got good representation in DUSU elections and did well in MCD elections and bye elections. We have increased our vote percentage whereas vote percentage of AAP is going down at a very fast pace”.

Delhi Congressmen also maintain that large sections of traders in Delhi are not happy with BJP but don’t want to vote for AAP either in the general election. In case of a Congress-AAP alliance, they apprehend, this lot would go back to BJP. We will loose the advantage.