Poll tie-up with Cong may not continue in assembly elections: AAP

The party said that that the two parties have not agreed for a tie-up for the Delhi assembly elections, scheduled for early next year

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday said that its alliance with the Congress was limited to the Lok Sabha elections, adding that the two parties have not agreed for a tie-up for the Delhi assembly elections, scheduled for early next year.

Delhi chief minister and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal campaigns with Congress candidate from North East Delhi constituency Kanhaiya Kumar in Bhajanpura. (ANI)

The Congress said that it is discussing the way forward with party workers, adding that its cadre will use the momentum gained from canvassing during the general elections for the state polls.

Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said that the AAP-Congress alliance was “opportunistic” and was sure to collapse soon.

The AAP and the Congress had formed a pre-poll alliance for the general elections in Delhi, Gujarat, Goa, Chandigarh, and Haryana. The alliance, however, bore mixed results, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sweeping all seven seats in Delhi, and 25 out of 26 seats in Gujarat.

The Congress managed to win one seat in Goa, five in Haryana, and the lone seat in Chandigarh, but the AAP failed to win in any of the states where the alliance was in place. In fact, the only Lok Sabha seats that the AAP won were in Punjab — where it contested the polls separately from the Congress.

Speaking to the media after a meeting of all AAP legislators from the Capital at chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s official residence, Delhi AAP convener Gopal Rai said his party will continue to fight against “dictatorship” till the CM remains incarcerated, and will intensify its development work in the city with an eye on the polls.

“It is already clear that this alliance (with the Congress) was for the Lok Sabha polls. We contested the (Lok Sabha) elections together. There is no alliance for the Delhi assembly election. We will fight the election together with the people of Delhi and win the (Delhi assembly) election,” Rai said.

“The arrest of Arvind Kejriwal disappointed the entire party, but all the MLAs and all the workers worked hard, remained united, and fought the elections strongly. Our struggle will continue because Arvind Kejriwal is still in jail. Due to the model code of conduct imposed for the Lok Sabha polls, development work was halted in Delhi for the last two months. It was decided in the meeting that all the MLAs will hold meetings with party workers in their respective areas over the weekend, and review all the development work. The MLAs will stay in touch with the people and the development work will be intensified,” said Rai.

The Delhi AAP convener added that the party will hold a meeting with all its workers on July 13.

“Together the entire capital city will continue to fight against dictatorship… The way the central government snatched the rights of the people of Delhi and the elected government of Delhi by nullifying the Supreme Court constitutional bench verdict (on Delhi-Centre powers), the way elected CM Arvind Kejriwal, deputy CM Manish Sisodia, and health minister Satyendar Jain were put in jail, the people believe that in the wake of the national verdict, the central government will reconsider these issues, and will change the policy of snatching away the rights of the Delhi government and the people of Delhi,” Rai said.

Cong: Still a force to reckon with

Meanwhile, the Congress said the support it received during the elections prove that the party is still a force to reckon with.

“The performance of the Congress workers was commendable in the Lok Sabha elections, and compared to the last general elections, the party’s vote share has gone up. The Congress received overwhelming support from the people in many areas to prove that the party was still a force to reckon with. The Delhi Congress has accepted the people’s verdict with humility, but the party will spare no effort in strengthening the cadre at the grass-root level and reach out to the people at every polling booth to understand their problems and solve them,” said Delhi Congress chief Devender Yadav.

The Delhi Congress chief held a meeting with the party’s Delhi in-charge Deepak Babaria on Thursday and discussed the current political situation in the city.

“We are discussing the way forward with party workers. Congress workers will maintain the momentum of their hard work in the Lok Sabha elections, and the party will spare no effort to motivate and activate the party cadres,” Yadav said.

Responding to the development, the BJP said the AAP and the Congress allied with each other to protect each other’s “corruption”.

“We always said that the AAP and Congress alliance is an opportunistic alliance just protect each other’s corruption sagas, and it will break down after the Lok Sabha polls, and so it has collapsed today. Anyway, their coalition was already rejected by the people of Delhi in the elections, so it was bound to break up at earliest,” said Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor.