<p>New Delhi: The Congress and the AAP on Monday held the first round of discussions on seat sharing for the Lok Sabha elections, with the former saying both will fight the elections together as I.N.D.I.A partners. The two parties also decided to meet again in a few days to finalise the arrangement.</p><p>The meeting comes a day after Congress held talks with the RJD on seat sharing in Bihar where the party is demanding around ten seats from the Mahagathbandhan. However, the Congress is likely to get 5-6 seats while the Left may get a maximum of two.</p><p>On Tuesday, the Congress panel will meet Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP leaders along with Maharashtra Congress leaders Ashok Chavan, Nana Patole, Prithviraj Chavan and Varsha Gaikwad.</p><p>Signalling unease in the group, JD(U) chief spokesperson K C Tyagi said they were concerned and worried about the organisational structure of the Opposition bloc, as well as about delays in candidate selection and joint rallies. "Congress is worried about its own party but we are worried about the alliance," he said.</p><p>On Monday, AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal deputed its General Secretary (Organisation) Sandeep Pathak, Delhi Minister Atishi, and party spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj for the talks with the National Alliance Committee of the Congress, which has senior leaders Mukul Wasnik, Ashok Gehlot, Bhupesh Baghel, Salman Khurshid and Mohan Prakash as members.</p>.AAP's Rajya Sabha candidates Swati Maliwal, N D Gupta, Sanjay Singh file nominations.<p>Sources said at the meeting said AAP leaders also referred to their demands for seats in Haryana (3), Goa (1) and Gujarat (1) besides Delhi and Punjab. It demanded four out of seven seats in Delhi and seven out of 13 in Punjab, sources said.</p><p>After the nearly two hours meeting, Wasnik told reporters, "we are both strong and important parties in the I.N.D.I.A bloc. We will together fight the elections and see that the BJP is defeated."</p><p>He said they discussed scores of issues for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. "Talks will go on and we will meet again soon and only then will we take a final call on seat share. Everything was discussed in detail. We will fight the elections together and we will give a befitting reply to the BJP," he said.</p><p>Before the meeting, Pathak said there will be discussions on all critical states for AAP where it has strong organisational structure or elected representatives. </p><p>The meeting was also attended by Delhi Congress president Arvinder Singh Lovely. Both the Delhi and Punjab Congress units are against any alliance with the AAP, whose Punjab unit is also not in favour of any such relationship.</p><p>However, the central leadership of both the parties are keen on sharing seats in both the states. AAP is also expecting some seat adjustments in places like Gujarat where it has already announced a candidate.</p><p>Gehlot said when an alliance is formed, everyone has to compromise and make sacrifices. "Congress has taken the initiative and a good message has gone across the country and the process is going ahead. If the alliance succeeds, then it should not come as a surprise that Prime Minister Modi would not be able to form the government the next time," he said.</p><p>Former Delhi Congress MP Sandeep Dikshit said, "our issues with AAP are with respect to the Delhi government. They are not linked to running the central government. There will be a decision on whether three will be an alliance. We need to know if it happens, who will contest which seats. I hope that if an alliance happens then its details should be decided as soon as possible so that we can also prepare for it."</p>
<p>New Delhi: The Congress and the AAP on Monday held the first round of discussions on seat sharing for the Lok Sabha elections, with the former saying both will fight the elections together as I.N.D.I.A partners. The two parties also decided to meet again in a few days to finalise the arrangement.</p><p>The meeting comes a day after Congress held talks with the RJD on seat sharing in Bihar where the party is demanding around ten seats from the Mahagathbandhan. However, the Congress is likely to get 5-6 seats while the Left may get a maximum of two.</p><p>On Tuesday, the Congress panel will meet Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP leaders along with Maharashtra Congress leaders Ashok Chavan, Nana Patole, Prithviraj Chavan and Varsha Gaikwad.</p><p>Signalling unease in the group, JD(U) chief spokesperson K C Tyagi said they were concerned and worried about the organisational structure of the Opposition bloc, as well as about delays in candidate selection and joint rallies. "Congress is worried about its own party but we are worried about the alliance," he said.</p><p>On Monday, AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal deputed its General Secretary (Organisation) Sandeep Pathak, Delhi Minister Atishi, and party spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj for the talks with the National Alliance Committee of the Congress, which has senior leaders Mukul Wasnik, Ashok Gehlot, Bhupesh Baghel, Salman Khurshid and Mohan Prakash as members.</p>.AAP's Rajya Sabha candidates Swati Maliwal, N D Gupta, Sanjay Singh file nominations.<p>Sources said at the meeting said AAP leaders also referred to their demands for seats in Haryana (3), Goa (1) and Gujarat (1) besides Delhi and Punjab. It demanded four out of seven seats in Delhi and seven out of 13 in Punjab, sources said.</p><p>After the nearly two hours meeting, Wasnik told reporters, "we are both strong and important parties in the I.N.D.I.A bloc. We will together fight the elections and see that the BJP is defeated."</p><p>He said they discussed scores of issues for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. "Talks will go on and we will meet again soon and only then will we take a final call on seat share. Everything was discussed in detail. We will fight the elections together and we will give a befitting reply to the BJP," he said.</p><p>Before the meeting, Pathak said there will be discussions on all critical states for AAP where it has strong organisational structure or elected representatives. </p><p>The meeting was also attended by Delhi Congress president Arvinder Singh Lovely. Both the Delhi and Punjab Congress units are against any alliance with the AAP, whose Punjab unit is also not in favour of any such relationship.</p><p>However, the central leadership of both the parties are keen on sharing seats in both the states. AAP is also expecting some seat adjustments in places like Gujarat where it has already announced a candidate.</p><p>Gehlot said when an alliance is formed, everyone has to compromise and make sacrifices. "Congress has taken the initiative and a good message has gone across the country and the process is going ahead. If the alliance succeeds, then it should not come as a surprise that Prime Minister Modi would not be able to form the government the next time," he said.</p><p>Former Delhi Congress MP Sandeep Dikshit said, "our issues with AAP are with respect to the Delhi government. They are not linked to running the central government. There will be a decision on whether three will be an alliance. We need to know if it happens, who will contest which seats. I hope that if an alliance happens then its details should be decided as soon as possible so that we can also prepare for it."</p>
