Congress rejects AAP 'offer' of 3 Lok Sabha seats in 2019 polls

New Delhi: In a significant political development, the AAP has reportedly offered three Lok Sabha seats to the Congress in the national capital to take on the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

The move comes a day after chief minister Arvind Kejriwal praised former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, saying that the country needs an “educated PM” like him. But the AAP offer seems to have not gone well with the Delhi Congress, whose chief Ajay Maken declined it saying, “when the people of Delhi are continuously rejecting the Kejriwal government, why should we come to their rescue”.

On Thursday, Mr Kejriwal had praised former PM Manmohan Singh. He had earlier reviled Mr Singh during his anti-graft campaign for the Lokpal and later during the 2013 Delhi Assembly and Lok Sabha polls. This led to speculations in political circles that the two parties were cosying up to each other to put up a united fight against the BJP.

Reacting to Mr Maken’s tweet, AAP spokesperson Dilip Pandey said it was the Congress that had approached the AAP and not the other way around. “Ajaymaken ji, some senior Congress leaders are in touch with the Aam Aadmi Party and they want our help in Punjab and Haryana, in return want a seat in Delhi,” Mr Pandey tweeted responding to Mr Maken’s tweet.

Two AAP leaders ruled out talks with the Congress at this moment, saying that the two parties were currently fighting for the same set of voters.

The BJP in its response to the reports said that the news doesn’t surprise the party. “The tweets of Congress and AAP leaders in this context are a game plan towards creating a political atmosphere for a coalition. It shows that both the parties now real-ise that the BJP is the first choice. The Congress and AAP coalition will be an immoral one with a mo-tive to mislead the people of Delhi,” Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari said.

Taking a jibe at the reports, rebel AAP leader Kapil Mishra said that the truth of the coalition bet-ween AAP and Congress has now been revealed. “The AAP chief is himself calling the journalists and telling them to delete their tweets. Mr Maken has diluted his game plan,” he tweeted in Hindi.

Formed in November 2012, the AAP won 28 seats in the 2013 Assembly polls, defeating the Congress which bagged only eight seats. The BJP bagged 33.07 per cent votes, while the Congress and the AAP secured 24.59 per cent and 29.49 per cent votes, respectively. In 2015 Assembly polls, the BJP could barely win three seats and its vote share was 32.19 per cent, a decline of 0.88 per cent in comparison to its show in 2013.

However, the Congress fared the worst as it secured only 9.65 per cent votes and could not even open an account, while the AAP got 54.3 per cent votes and bagged 67 out 70 seats.

The Bharatiya Janta Party in its response to the reports said that the news doesn’t surprise the party. “The reports of Congress and AAP’s coalition neither surprise us nor distract us. The tweets of Congress and AAP leaders in this context are a game plan towards creating a political atmosphere for a coalition. It shows that both the parties now realise that Bharatiya Janata Party is the first choice of people of Delhi. The Congress and AAP coalition will be an immoral one with a motive to mislead the people of Delhi,” Delhi BJP President Manoj Tiwari said.

Taking a jibe at the reports, rebel Aam Aadmi Party leader Kapil Mishra said that the truth of the coalition between AAP and Congress has now been revealed. “The AAP chief is himself calling the journalists and telling them to delete their tweets. Mr Maken has today diluted his game plan,” he tweeted in Hindi.