AAP and Congress will tie up to contest Lok Sabha polls in Gujarat, says state AAP chief

Aam Aadmi Party's Gujarat unit chief Isudan Gadhvi on Monday caused a flutter by saying the AAP and the Congress will fight the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in Gujarat under a seat-sharing formula as both the parties are members of the opposition INDIA alliance.

Responding to Gadhvi's statement, the Congress said the party will abide by the directions of Central leadership.

The Bharatiya Janata Party said the likely tie-up between AAP and Congress will not affect the ruling party's poll prospects and dubbed AAP the "B team" of Congress.

"Both AAP and Congress are part of the INDIA alliance. This poll alliance will also be implemented in Gujarat. Though the talks of a tie-up are still at the primary level, it is sure that both AAP and Congress will fight the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in Gujarat under a seat-sharing formula.

"If everything goes as planned, I guarantee that BJP will not be able to win all 26 seats in Gujarat this time," Gadhvi told reporters here.

He said the Arvind Kejriwal-led party has joined the INDIA bloc to defeat BJP in the Lok Sabha polls.

"AAP's Gujarat unit has already started doing research about seats on which the party can field candidates," Gadhvi said.

Responding to the sudden announcement by the Gujarat AAP chief, the Congress said the final call will be taken by the Central leadership.

"I have just learned about his announcement. Seat-sharing agreements with other parties are finalised by the central leadership. It is their prerogative to decide pre-poll tie-ups. State leadership will discuss this issue when it is raised by the central leadership.

"Gujarat Congress will follow the directions of our national leaders in this regard," Gujarat Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi told media persons.

The BJP has downplayed Gadhvi's announcement.

"We have been winning all the 26 LS seats in Gujarat for the last two terms. This time, we target to win all the seats with a margin of 5 lakh votes. The Central government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi is not scared of any such alliance. We are confident of winning the polls.

"With this announcement, it has now come to the fore that AAP is a B team of Congress," said Gujarat BJP spokesperson Rutvij Patel.

Notably, in the 2022 Gujarat Assembly elections, the Congress and the AAP fought against each other. While Congress secured 17 seats, AAP managed to win five seats in the 182-member House.