AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal rules out alliance with Congress for Delhi Assembly elections

AAP and Congress are part of the opposition I.N.D.I.A. bloc and fought the Lok Sabha elections in Delhi together earlier this year. Both parties drew a blank, with the BJP winning all seats.

New Delhi: With just a couple of months left for Delhi Assembly elections, AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday made it clear that his party will not have any alliance with the Congress in the national capital.

Within hours, Delhi Congress president Devender Yadav hit back saying they were very clear from the beginning that they would not have any truck with AAP in the Assembly polls, as its candidates had suffered due to its tie-up in the Lok Sabha elections.

Both the parties had fought the Lok Sabha elections together with AAP contesting four seats and Congress three. Though they lost all the seats, both parties had managed to bring down BJP's victory margins.

“There will be no alliance in Delhi,” Kejriwal told a press conference here when asked whether AAP will fight the Delhi elections in a coalition.

While Kejriwal did not elaborate on the decision, Yadav said they knew that they would have to contend with people’s anger when they entered into an alliance with AAP. 

“Had Congress contested the Lok Sabha polls alone, considering the immense influence Rahul Gandhi wielded among the voters, and people’s support for the Congress, we would have been the gainer. Our candidates suffered setbacks only due to the alliance with the AAP,” Yadav said.

Congress had failed to open its account in the Assembly elections in 2015 and 2020, while AAP had won 67 and 62 out of 70 seats. However, Congress had a better performance in Lok Sabha elections compared to AAP.

Though the leaders had been insisting since Lok Sabha results that such a poll arrangement was limited to the national election, there were efforts to enter into an alliance in Haryana. However, that did not happen after both parties disagreed on the number of seats each would contest.

While AAP demanded 10 out of 90 seats in Haryana, Congress was willing to concede only seven, which led to the collapse of the negotiations, despite top Congress leader Rahul Gandhi keen on both the parties entering into an alliance.

In Delhi, Congress has been attacking the AAP over governance issues and it has organised 'Delhi Nyay Yatra' on the lines of Rahul Gandhi's 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra', which is ending on December 4.

Kejriwal, who quit Chief Ministership recently, has been on a campaign trail for the past couple of months. He has been holding padayatras across the capital highlighting AAP government's achievements and flagship programmes.

The former Chief Minister has also added the “declining” law and order in Delhi as a prominent campaign theme and has been meeting businessmen and other victims of crimes.

On Sunday, he targeted the BJP-led Union government, accusing it of inaction on law and order issues in the capital. Delhi Police is under the control of the Ministry of Home Affairs under the Union government.

He alleged that instead of acting against criminals, an attack was orchestrated on him during his padyatra in Malviya Nagar on Saturday.

“The liquid thrown on me was harmless, but it could have been dangerous. This is the third attack on me in the last 35 days. What is the message Home Minister Amit Shah is sending? It is a direct message that if you complain, we will get you attacked and arrested. The message for gangsters is that, I am here to protect you,” he claimed.

He also found fault with the arrest of AAP MLA Naresh Balyan, who had earlier filed a complaint about extortion by gangsters. “Instead of arresting criminals, they are targeting our MLAs. Balyan is a victim of (gangster) Kapil Sangwan,” he said.