Airstrikes force Oppn to redraw Delhi tieup plans
Before the Pulwama attacks, Kejriwal had officially said that he favoured an alliance with Congress.
New Delhi: Seemingly on a back foot politically after the Pulwama attacks and the subsequent airstrikes against Pakistan, top Opposition leaders are now weighing in on Congress to work out a seat-sharing deal with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi.
Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, TDP chief and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, and NCP Sharad Pawar are understood to have asked the Congress leadership, including party president Rahul Gandhi, to rethink their decision of doing it alone in Delhi.
Sources said that at a meeting of Opposition leaders in the national capital last week, the three leaders reportedly asked Mr Gandhi to reconsider the party’s decision of no alliance with AAP.
Before the Pulwama attacks, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had officially said that he favoured an alliance with Congress. However, Congress leaders were opposed to it and had almost said no.
Despite the developments after the attacks, AAP announced a list of six candidates for the Lok Sabha polls from Delhi, leaving one for a joint Opposition candidate.
However, sources said that there was still a chance that a 3:3:1 formula will be announced.
One of the bones of contention between the two parties, the sources said, was the East Delhi seat from where Atishi has been announced as the AAP candidate.
Incidentally, former Delhi chief minister and current PCC chief Sheila Dikshit wants her son Sandeep Dikshit to be fielded from that seat. Mr Dikhit is a former MP from the said constituency.
Another issue is that AAP wants the alliance with Congress to be extended to Punjab as well. However, Congress feels that AAP has very little chance in winning as out of four, two of its MPs have already defected.