This comes days after AICC in-charge of Delhi Congress PC Chacko had said that his party and the AAP would come together to defeat the BJP.
Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal addresses during a Telugu Desam Party's rally in Visakhapatnam on March 31, 2019. (Photo: IANS)
There will be no alliance between the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections as Rahul Gandhi has already refused it, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday.
The AAP chief made the remark at the Visakhapatnam airport while leaving for Delhi, a day after he attended a mega rally along with his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee on the invitation of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu.
“There is nothing on the alliance with Congress. We had one meeting with Rahul Gandhi where he refused to have an alliance with AAP,” Kejriwal told IANS.
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On Delhi Congress President Sheila Dikshit’s statement that the AAP did not approach the party, Arvind Kejriwal said: “If we have talked to him (Gandhi) there is no need of talking” to anyone else.
This comes days after AICC in-charge of Delhi Congress PC Chacko had said that his party and the AAP would come together to defeat the BJP.
According to Chacko, many leaders believe that it is necessary to have the alliance to take on the BJP as the saffron party is upbeat after air strikes by the Modi government following the Pulwama terror attack.
Four former Delhi Congress leaders Ajay Maken, Subhash Chopra, Tajdar Babar and Arvinder Singh Lovely are said to be in favour of an alliance with the AAP.
However, the opponents of the alliance in the party including Dikshit believe that the move will be “suicidal” as the Congress has to face the Delhi Assembly polls early next year and its main rival will be the ruling AAP.
Chacko had earlier undertaken a phone survey carried out through Shakti app of the Congress which sought views of around 52,000 Delhi Congress workers on whether they supported the party’s alliance with the AAP in Delhi or not.
Dikshit had opposed the survey, saying it was “overriding” Gandhi’s decision that the Delhi Congress was against the alliance.
The AAP had earlier this month made it clear that there would neither be any alliance with the Congress nor would it withdraw any of its nominees for the Lok Sabha polls in Delhi, a day after declaring its candidate for the seventh seat.
The Lok Sabha election is slated for 12 May in Delhi. The results will be declared with the rest of the country on May 23.
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