The Congress was keen on allying with the Aam Aadmi Party AAP for the upcoming Delhi Assembly polls. Still, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal decided to go alone, said senior Congress leader Ajay Maken on Saturday. At a new Congress ideological centre, Indira Bhavan, a minister, Maken, criticised AAP for not being able to compete with the BJP in Delhi while indirectly appealing to the members of the INDIA alliance. “By weakening Congress, it will not become possible to defeat the BJP,” he said.
Maken, a former union minister, disclosed that before the polls, Congress was negotiating with AAP for an alliance both in Haryana and Delhi. He accused Kejriwal of avoiding negotiations by saying “We were very close to setting some kind of deal with AAP for the Haryana assembly elections but once he was released from jail, Kejriwal declared that AAP would contest all 90 seats in the state. This decision came even though our talks were virtually concluded.”
Earlier, the two had agreed on an alliance for the Lok Sabha polls in Delhi, Haryana and Gujarat. This time again, the Congress could win five constituencies in Haryana but the alliance was completely wiped out in Delhi. On this, Maken blamed Kejriwal for messing up a potential alliance in the Delhi Assembly elections. “They themselves stated after the Lok Sabha elections that AAP will fight independently in Delhi,” Maken added.
While addressing AAP’s political strategy, Maken said that the opposition should work united to fight against the BJP. He again pointed out that Congress had been quite willing to look for alliance partners but had been stymied by AAP leadership, which, in his view, is counterproductive to the long-term project of building a united front against the BJP in major states.
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