AAP-Cong alliance off, but doors still open

It was the turn of the Congress party to announce a breakdown in talks with the AAP on Thursday but a late evening message from the latter once again revived alliance chatter in Delhi and Haryana.

This was almost a repeat of the twists and turns one witnessed on Wednesday when the AAP initially announced calling off of the negotiations in Delhi as the Congress refused to accept its demand for seats in Haryana.

The developments gathered pace on Thursday evening soon after Congress in-charge of Delhi PC Chacko told reporters that the AAP had conveyed their unwillingness to form an alliance in Delhi alone.

Later in the evening, sources said AAP's negotiator Sanjay Singh reached out to Chacko saying that they need to talk again, reviving hopes about striking an alliance. The Congress sources said they would seek a written assurance from the AAP about a 4:3 formula in Delhi.

Unwillingness to part with seats

Thursday's break down in talks came as the Congress party was unwilling to part with seats in Haryana where the AAP wanted one seat to contest and three to be given to the Jannayak Janata Party. At one point, the Congress was willing to give two to the JJP and one to the AAP but the talks did not move forward.

The AAP was willing to give three seats to the Congress in Delhi if the latter had agreed to its proposal in Haryana. However, the Congress said a firm no to this, sources said.

Sources said that following the previous communication by the AAP, Congress negotiators had decided to present a list of candidates to party chief Rahul Gandhi and go ahead with the announcement on Friday. The late evening call by the AAP has now changed everything.

Sibal vs Sheila Dixit

However, a new headache for Congress is its Delhi chief Sheila Dikshit's insistence that she would contest only if she is given Chandni Chowk, which senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal also has an eye for. Earlier, the Congress had zeroed in on Sibal, a Rajya Sabha MP, for the seat while it wanted Dikshit to contest from East Delhi.

Now, the Congress managers are trying to convince Sibal to take back his claim on the seat, which he represented earlier and lost in 2014.