A day after the Congress rejected outright a tie-up with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Punjab, the latter on Saturday said there was no question of any pre-poll pact with the ruling party in the state for 2019 parliamentary elections.
In a statement on Saturday, AAP state president Bhagwant Mann refuted such reports and denied any alliance with Congress for 2019 polls.
“The AAP emerged during the anti-corruption movement against the then ruling Congress in the Centre. Since the beginning it was against corruption and Congress. There is no question of any alliance with it. I do not know from where these reports are coming. We will contest as a single party in Punjab in the 2019 parliamentary polls,” he said.
Leader of Opposition in Punjab Assembly, Sukhpal Singh Khaira, has also denied any understanding with the Congress.
He said such rumours are flying in Delhi. “We will consult our senior leaders in case anything related to this happens. We are committed to the people of Punjab as they have voted to us. There is nothing similar between AAP and Congress,” Khaira said.
The development came after the Congress unit in Punjab rejected any tie-up with AAP before the 2019 polls. The party f termed it as rumours and a work of fiction. Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar and Congress in-charge of Punjab affairs, Asha Kumari, said such “baseless rumours” deserved no attention.
According to reports, talks about Congress and AAP bonhomie were triggered in the recently concluded Budget session of Parliament, when Bhagwant Mann was routinely spotted in the company of Sunil Jakhar.
However, Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken has dismissed the reports of a possible Congress-AAP alliance in Delhi ahead of 2019 general elections. Terming AAP ‘opportunist’, Maken said only secular forces are welcome and not opportunists.
At present, AAP has four MPs in Punjab. Of these, Patiala MP Dharamvir Gandhi and Fatehgarh Saheb MP Harinder Khalsa were suspended for anti-party activities in 2015. The remaining two are Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann and Faridkot MP Sadhu Singh.
In the just concluded Shahkot Assembly bypoll, AAP’s poor performance can be attributed to lack of a united leadership. AAP failed to convert its votes during the civic polls and also lost Gurdaspur parliamentary seat.