Even as various exit polls spelt its doom, the face of the Congress’s campaign for the recently concluded Assembly polls said the party “would go it alone” no matter what the people’s verdict and was opposed to the idea of extending support to the runner-up in the race for the Delhi Vidhan Sabha.
Ajay Maken’s response, to the exit poll predictions of the party winning “zero to three” seats despite “general enthusiasm expressed by its candidates” at a stock-taking session, was that the Congress was also in favour of pushing for a hung Assembly depending on the actual tally of seats.
“There is no question of extending support to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and definitely not the Bharatiya Janata Party [BJP]; if we are able to touch double digits in our tally of seats, our strategy would be in favour of a hung Delhi Assembly,” Mr. Maken told The Hindu .
“If the poll projections are true, that is if we manage to get only three seats, we will respect and humbly accept the verdict of the people of Delhi and function in whatever role that they hand to us as a party,” the former Union Minister, who contested as a potential MLA from North Delhi’s Sadar Bazar this time, added.
Reduced to a paltry seat share of eight in the 70-member Delhi Assembly, the Congress had extended support to the AAP with its own share of 28 seats to form the Delhi Government in 2013.
Speculation about a similar association with the AAP was rife in the week leading up to polling day before Mr. Maken made the claim that the Congress had been approached by AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal with a request to extend support which the latter had refused.
