No point of I.N.D.I.A alliance if Congress has decided to contest alone in Delhi in LS polls: AAP

After AAP's statement, Delhi Congress chief Anil Chaudhary clarified that Wednesday's meeting was not on alliance formation in Delhi and nothing was discussed about it.

Delhi Congress leaders’ remarks on Wednesday that the leadership has asked them to prepare for contesting all seven Lok Sabha seats in the capital created tension between the party and the AAP with the latter saying there is no point attending I.N.D.I.A’s meeting in Mumbai if one party wants to contest alone.

However, Congress immediately sought to defuse the crisis by disowning the remarks by some leaders, saying that there was no discussion about alliance and AAP should not fall into the trap set by “BJP-leaning media”.

The war of its wits emerged as Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former president Rahul Gandhi and General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal held a meeting with Delhi leaders to prepare for the Lok Sabha elections.

While a couple of Delhi leaders said that the central leadership has asked them to prepare for the polls in all seven seats, sources in the central leadership pointed out that the direction was to strengthen the party in all the seven seats and not about the decision on contesting all seats. A decision on alliance will be taken at an appropriate time, they said.

All started with a comment from Delhi leader Alka Lamba, who attended the leaders’ meeting, who said that the leadership has asked them to prepare the ground in seven seats. At the same time, she also said there was no decision taken on the seats to be contested and that the leadership asked them to strengthen the organisation.

As AAP made it clear that there was no point in going for Mumbai meeting in such a scenario, Congress fielded Delhi in-charge Deepak Babaria to douse the fire. He said, “Alka Lamba is a spokesperson but she is not authorised to talk about such issues. I have said as an in-charge that there were no such discussions in the meeting today. I refute Alka Lamba's statement.” He also said Lamba has told him that she has not said what is attributed to her by a section of the media.

Delhi Congress leaders are at odds with its central leadership over the latter’s bonhomie with the AAP, which has targeted the party and then defeated them in subsequent elections. It had also opposed the party in supporting AAP on Delhi ordinance and Bill.

AAP national chief spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar said, “If Congress does not want to form an alliance in Delhi, then it makes no sense to go for the I.N.D.I.A meeting, it is a waste of time. The party's top leadership will decide whether or not to attend it,” she said.

Senior Delhi Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj sought to downplay the remarks by Congress leaders saying it was made by low-ranking leaders, who were not able to even save their deposits. Asked about whether AAP will attend the Mumbai meeting, he said the4 Political Affairs Committee and INDIA parties will sit together and discuss the issue.

Congress sources said the decision was to strengthen the base in all seats but it does not mean they will contest or not contest these seats. “All those issues will be discussed at a later stage. Even if we have an alliance, we need to strengthen our base,” a senior leader said.

Sources also said the leadership has asked the local leaders to take steps to woo back Dalits and Muslims, who had shifted to the AAP, to the Congress.