In what appears a major setback for the unity of Opposition’s INDIA alliance, after Mamata Banerjee, AAP has also refused to contest the Lok Sabha elections in alliance with the Congress in Punjab.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday said that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has nothing to do with the Congress in Punjab and that they will contest and win all the 13 seats in the state.
Speaking to reporters, Mann said, “…In Punjab, we will not do anything (alliance with Congress) like that, we have nothing with Congress.”
Later, AAP MP and Punjab Co-incharge, Sandeep Pathak said that the Punjab unit of the party is capable of contesting the Lok Sabha elections alone in all the 13 seats.
“…This is not new. Punjab unit had been saying from the beginning that they are capable of contesting alone. If you look at the local unit of Congress, they too say that they don’t want to forge an alliance. So, local units have their own aspirations. Final decision will be taken by the coordination committee, seat-sharing committee and the High Command. Let’s wait for it. The sooner it is done, the better it is,” pathak said.
Earlier today, West Bengal CM and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee said that her party will contest the Lok Sabha elections in all the seats alone.
We have not talked to anyone about it (seat sharing). However, my party had sent a proposal to them (Congress), which was dismissed right away. Therefore, we decided to go alone in Bengal (for the polls). No talks on the matter have been done so far,” the West Bengal chief minister said.
Banerjee further said that the Congress can contest 300 seats but she will not tolerate any interference by the grand old party in areas where regional parties are strong.
“Let the Congress fight 300 seats on its own. The regional parties are together and can contest the rest. However, we will not tolerate any interference by them (Congress),” she added.