AAP gives INDIA bloc ally Congress an offer: ‘Doesn’t deserve even one seat’

The Aam Aadmi Party on Tuesday gave an alliance offer to the Congress in Delhi, barely days after announcing that it will contest in all 13 seats in Punjab.

However, a sharp jibe accompanied the offer as Arvind Kejriwal’s party said the Congress doesn’t deserve even a single seat in the national capital on merit.

AAP MP Sandeep Pathak said the AAP wants the Congress party to contest only on one of the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi. The rest of the seats, per the offer, will be contested by the ruling party.

“On merit basis, Congress party does not deserve even a single seat in Delhi but keeping in mind the ‘dharma of alliance’ we are offering them one seat in Delhi. We propose the Congress party to fight on 1 seat and AAP on 6 seats,” he said.

“Congress has zero Lok Sabha seats in Delhi, it has zero seats in Delhi assembly. Out of 250 wards, the Congress won only 9 seats in the (2022) MCD election. Even on a merit basis, the Congress party does not deserve a single seat according to the available data. But only data is not important. As per the alliance dharma and out of respect, we are ready to offer one seat to the Congress. We are not announcing candidates today. I hope that seat-sharing talks for Delhi are finalised soon so we can get to work. If no conclusion is made soon, in the next few days we will announce candidates for the six seats and start our work,” he added.

In the 2019 general elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party pulled off a clean sweep, winning all the seven seats. The Congress was the runners up with over 22 percent votes. The AAP was third on the list.

However, since then, AAP has performed well in Delhi as well as Punjab. The party defeated the BJP and the Congress in the Delhi Assembly elections and the municipal polls. It also dislodged the Congress government in Punjab.

AAP and the Congress party are INDIA bloc allies and have been discussing seat-sharing agreements in Punjab and Delhi. However, their state units have shown reluctance in stitching an alliance.

Last week, Arvind Kejriwal announced that AAP will contest all 13 seats in Punjab and one in Chandigarh, calling the curtain on the alliance in the state.

“Two years back, you gave us blessings. You gave 92 out of 117 seats to us (in Assembly elections), you created history in Punjab. I have come to you with folded hands, asking for one more blessing. Lok Sabha elections will be held in two months. For Lok Sabha elections, Punjab has 13 seats and one from Chandigarh – a total of 14 seats. In the next 10-15 days, AAP will declare its candidates in all of these 14 seats. You have to make AAP sweep all these 14 seats with a majority,” he said at an event on Saturday.

The announcement came weeks after the two parties unsuccessfully contested the Chandigarh mayoral elections together.

Congress on alliance

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said the Congress won’t contest in alliance with AAP.

“I admit that there has been a slight delay. But this is a difficult task because we are contesting against a few parties at the state level. INDIA Alliance is for the Lok Sabha 2024 elections. In Delhi and Punjab, we are contesting against the AAP. But we are united at the national level – that we have to defeat the BJP. Resolving these matters is taking a little time. I agree that this should been done earlier, but there were some difficulties. There is no issue with DMK, NCP, Shiv Sena and Samajwadi Party. Difficulty is when it comes to West Bengal and Punjab. Our organisation wants to contest on more number of seats here, AAP and TMC want the same. A middle path would be found and within a few days, seat-sharing will be given its final form,” he said at a press conference.

BJP takes swipe at Congress

Reacting to the AAP’s offer, BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said the Congress party’s allies have passed a no confidence motion against it.

“Today, yet another no confidence motion has been passed against the Congress party by its own allies. Few days ago, Mamata Banerjee said take 2 seats, you don’t deserve more than two seats or else I am fighting all the seats alone. In Punjab, AAP said 13 plus one Chandigarh seat, we are going to fight it alone. In Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh announced his seats and said, Congress, you should take these many seats and be happy…So in every state you can see that no alliance partner has any confidence in Congress party or in Rahul Gandhi. And therefore this is not an alliance of ‘Modi Hatao’. It is actually an alliance of ‘Congress ko ghatao’. Anyhow, Congress should be given 200 or less seats to contest across the country because Congress and these parties have come into existence after finishing each other’s existence,” he said.