The Aam Aadmi Party will reconsider an alliance with the Congress if the latter changes its stand on seat sharing, AAP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh told The Hindu on Friday.
This comes two days after AAP ruled out any possibility of a tie-up. Mr. Singh, who has been heading alliance talks with the Congress, said it would not agree for the tie-up just in Delhi.
“We will reconsider an alliance with the Congress but not under the present conditions,” said Mr. Singh, on being asked whether the party would rethink the tie-up.
He said the Congress has not officially contacted AAP after the latter announced on Wednesday night that there would be no alliance as the Congress was not ready to give AAP seats in Punjab, Chandigarh, and Haryana.
Meanwhile, the Congress made it clear on Friday that an alliance with AAP will not materialise if it insisted on seats in Haryana and Punjab.
“Even today we are ready to ally with them in Delhi,” said All India Congress Committee in-charge of Delhi P.C. Chacko.
On Wednesday, Mr. Singh had said: “In Punjab, AAP has four MPs and 20 MLAs and Congress is not ready to give a single seat. In Haryana, where Congress has only one MP, it is not ready to give a seat. In Chandigarh, where we got a good number of votes last time, Congress is not ready to give a seat. In Delhi, where they do not have one MLA or MP, they want three seats. I do not understand what type of alliance the Congress wants.”
On Thursday night, the Congress ‘finalised’ four names, including former Union Ministers Kapil Sibal from Chandni Chowk seat and Ajay Maken from the New Delhi Lok Sabha seat. A formal announcement is, however, yet to be made.
After calling off the alliance, AAP leaders had said the Congress was not interested in defeating the BJP.
“Signs show that there are 33 seats in Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, and Goa, where the Opposition could have defeated the BJP if they fought together... here also Congress is trying to defeat the Opposition instead of [Narendra] Modi,” AAP leader Gopal Rai had said.
Mr. Singh said if AAP and the Congress fight together, they can win at least 25 seats in the region.
