Lok Sabha elections 2019: Congress chief Rahul Gandhi refused to forge alliance with AAP, says Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief made the remark at the Visakhapatnam airport while leaving for Delhi, a day after he attended a mega rally along with his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee on the invitation of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said that there were no talks on an alliance for Delhi’s seven Lok Sabha seats with the Congress as its President Rahul Gandhi has already refused it.
“There is nothing on the alliance with Congress. We had one meeting with Rahul Gandhi where he refused to have an alliance with AAP,” Kejriwal told IANS.
This comes days after Congress in-charge of Delhi PC Chacko said that the Congress and AAP would come together to defeat the BJP.
“Party president to take final decision today. We’ve had no word with AAP, as we had to take preliminary decision on our party’s political stand whether we wanted an alliance or not. Both parties may have problems, that apart we’ve to defeat Modi and BJP. So, we’ll come together,” ANI quoted Chacko as saying last week.
On Delhi Congress President Sheila Dikshit’s statement that the AAP did not approach the party, Kejriwal said: “If we have talked to him (Gandhi) there is no need of talking” to anyone else.
Kejriwal made the remark at the Visakhapatnam airport while leaving for Delhi, a day after he attended a mega rally along with his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee on the invitation of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu.
The Congress’s Delhi unit has been divided over alliance with the AAP, the party whose rise in 2013 saw the grand-old-party losing power in the national capital. Four former Delhi Congress leaders Ajay Maken, Subhash Chopra, Tajdar Babar and Arvinder Singh Lovely are said to be in favour of alliance with the AAP. Delhi unit chief Sheila Dikshit, and three working presidents of Delhi Congress Devender Yadav, Rajesh Lilothia and Haroon Yusuf are against the idea of aligning with the AAP.
However, 12 district Congress presidents and majority of party councillors in the three municipal corporations have favoured alliance with the AAP. Chacko has handed over a signed letter to this effect to Gandhi.