The Congress on Wednesday distanced itself from party leader Alka Lamba’s statement that the grand old party is planning to contest from all seven seats in Delhi in the Lok Sabha polls.
Lamba made the claim after a meeting of the Delhi unit of the Congress.
Reacting to Lamba’s claims, Deepak Babaria, Congress in-charge of Delhi, denied that there was any discussion on elections or alliance in today’s meeting. He even termed her statement “immature”.
Talking to a news agency, Babaria said, “Alka Lamba is not an authorised spokesperson for much larger issues. As an in-charge, I have said there has been no discussion on it (Lok Sabha seats).”
He further said, “After the conclusion of the meeting, I clearly said that there was no discussion regarding elections or alliance. I also said any discussion of the INDIA alliance will only take place in the presence of Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge.”
Earlier, talking to a news agency after the party’s meeting, Congress leader Alka Lamba had claimed that the party had asked its cadres and leaders to start preparing for the seven Lok Sabha seats for the 2024 elections.
Following her statement, the AAP threatened to walk out of the INDIA alliance. AAP spokesperson Priyanka Kakar said, “If they (the Congress) don’t want to form an alliance in Delhi, then it makes no sense to go for the INDIA alliance, it is a waste of time. The party’s top leadership will decide whether or not to attend the next meeting of the INDIA alliance.”
This seems to have forced the Congress in-charge of Delhi to give a clarification that no talks were held on the alliance in Delhi. He even cautioned the AAP on its media statement, saying, “The AAP should restrain from giving such statements to the media.”
Cautioning the INDIA partner further, in the wake of Priyanka Kakkar’s statement, Babaria said, “They should understand that the entire media is in support of the BJP, they want to provoke you, I think it is the most unfortunate thing.”
He affirmed that no discussion was held in the meeting on the elections.
On Alka Lamba’s claim, he said, “Making such imaginary statements is uncalled for. And if someone believes the immature claims of our spokesperson… they should have clarified it to me,” he said, terming it a “mischief of the media to favour the BJP”.
The INDIA is scheduled to meet in Mumbai by the end of this month and at this juncture, a face-off between the AAP and the Congress would only hurt the interest of the alliance.