AAP announces six LS candidates for Delhi

The Aam Aadmi Party on Saturday declared six candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha seats from Delhi amid a strong buzz of a possible coalition with the Congress to keep the BJP away.

Though AAP ruled out at alliance with the Congress, Delhi Minister and senior AAP leader Gopal Rai said that the party was keen on a pre-poll tie up but Congress president Rahul Gandhi and former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit had ruled it out.

The Delhi unit of the Congress is strongly opposed to the alliance arguing that the party would lose the momentum it had gained in the national capital against the AAP after drawing a blank in the 2015 Assembly elections.

However, Opposition leaders who met at NCP chief Sharad Pawar's residence last month had asked Rahul to consider an alliance with the AAP in Delhi failing which the BJP could make a clean sweep in the national capital by winning all seven seats.

Rahul was forced into a re-think after the Pulwama terror attack

Dikshit, who is the Delhi Congress chief, had convened a meeting of state unit leaders on Friday to ascertain their views on an alliance with the AAP.

“The Delhi unit is not in favour of an alliance with the AAP, but we will abide by whatever decision the high command takes,” a senior Delhi Congress leader told DH.

According to the leader, there was a proposal for putting up three candidates each by the AAP and the Congress and a common candidate on the seventh seat.

Addressing a press conference here, Gopal Rai, the Delhi Convenor of AAP, said that Atishi will contest from East Delhi, Guggan Singh from North-West Delhi, Raghav Chadha from South, Dilip Pandey from Northeast, Pankaj Gupta from Chandni Chowk and Brijesh Goyal will contest from New Delhi seats.

Rai said that the candidate for West Delhi will be announced soon.

“Sheila Dikshit has said a straight no to the alliance. Rahul Gandhi also said not possible... Aam Aadmi Party wanted the alliance, but the Congress is not ready,” Rai said when asked about a possible coalition with the Congress.