NEW DELHI: In what could be another setback for the INDIA bloc, the AAP on Tuesday said that the party plans to contest six Lok Sabha seats out of seven in Delhi in the impending general election and offer just one to the Congress. Reacting, the Congress said that seat sharing "cannot be decided at press conferences". The BJP waded into the tussle, claiming to win all seven seats with huge margins, whether or not the AAP and the Congress have an alliance.
After its political affairs committee meeting, the AAP asserted that, on merit, the Congress "does not deserve" even one seat in Delhi and its offer is based on respect for the "alliance dharma".
At a press conference, AAP general secretary (organisation) Sandeep Pathak said that the party had been waiting for more than a month to resume seat-sharing talks for Delhi, but there has been no communication from the Congress.
“There have been two official meetings between the Congress and the AAP on January 8 and January 12. The talks happened in a good atmosphere but were inconclusive, and since last month there has been no meeting. We were told that the Congress party's yatra is going on and there will be a delay. We got to meet senior Congress leaders during this, but even they had no idea,” he said.
As seat-sharing talks have not been held, Mr Pathak said he was “sitting with a heavy heart. These things would not have been necessary if there had been talks.”
The AAP and the Congress have already announced that they will go solo in Punjab.
Announcing the proposal, Mr Pathak said, “The Congress has zero seats in the Lok Sabha from Delhi and zero seats in the Delhi Assembly. Even in the MCD elections last year, they won nine wards out of 250. If you see them on a merit basis and based on statistics, they do not deserve even one seat. But keeping in mind the alliance dharma, we offer them one seat."
The AAP leader said if talks do not happen, they will announce the names of six candidates for Delhi in the next few days, but he asserted that his party stood firmly and honestly with the INDIA bloc.
Reacting to the AAP proposal, Delhi Congress chief Arvinder Singh Lovely asserted that thier party is highly prepared to contest the polls and that seat-sharing "cannot be decided at press conferences".
The Congress chief said: “In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, we secured second place in five seats. If compared, we are more prepared than any other party in Delhi this time. When it comes to the party's performance, everyone knows the results of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections," Mr Lovely said, adding that "I do not want to comment on any leader and their statements."
Mr Lovely stated: “The Congress is the largest party in the INDIA bloc and we always try our best to work with the other Opposition parties because our motive is to save democracy.”
Amid the tussle between the alliance partners, Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva claimed that the saffron party will win all seven seats in Delhi with huge margins, whether or not the AAP and Congress have an alliance.
The BJP had won all seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi in 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the AAP's vote share was 18.1 per cent and it had bagged the third spot, while the Congress had polled in 22.5 per cent of the votes and was second on five of the seven Lok Sabha seats. The BJP had secured a vote share of 56.5 per cent.
